Freak
by Pineapple55
Summary: "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me." Obviously this person was never bullied. Sesshomaru learned long ago that some people are plain cruel. Funny how one person could change someone's perspective. NarSess
1. Chapter 1

WARNING (this story will contain the following): homosexual relationships, sex scenes, major OOCness, AU (modern times), fluff, uke Sesshomaru, bullying, author is a complete sap…did I mention _major_ OOCness?

Another Naraku/Sesshomaru story! Yeah!

I've been working on this for a long time and I still don't know what point it has! Sounds appealing now, doesn't it? Yeah!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Inuyasha or any of the Inuyasha characters. I make no profit from this.

* * *

**Freak**

"Leave me the fuck alone," Sesshomaru murmured.

The guys surrounding him just laughed before pushing him. "Now why would we do that, Sesshy?" one of them mocked. "You're our favorite pet to play with."

Sesshomaru tried to escape but they wouldn't let him. This happened everyday. A group of bullies would make fun of him at school, sometimes he got beat up too. He never had fit in. He moved to this town during the summer before his freshmen year of high school. It was now the second half of his junior year. No one had ever really wanted to befriend him, he was just a fun person to taunt.

They started pushing him more and more. "Haha, what's the matter, Sesshy? Don't you like this?" The biggest boy shoved him hard enough for Sesshomaru to fall on the ground. He quickly picked himself up and ran. They let him go while laughing at the poor boy.

…

Sesshomaru sat alone at the park. His eyes burned but he refused to cry. It happened so much that it was almost easy to keep the tears in check…almost.

_Whatever, I don't need anyone._

That was a lie though. He desired to have a friend, someone he could talk to, someone who wouldn't make fun of him. There was no point in thinking about it though. He had been an outcast for so long that he was convinced he would never have friends again.

He looked at the time and sighed. He finished eating his lunch but didn't get up to go back to school. He had one more class but was going to ditch. He just wanted to go home. _Maybe I'll pretend to be too sick to go tomorrow._ Yes, that sounded like a good plan. He stood up and slowly made the trek to his house. His parents wouldn't be home until the evening so he wouldn't have to explain why he was there an hour early.

…

"Sesshomaru! Are you here?" he heard his mother call.

"Yes, I'm up in my room," he shouted back. He was currently lying down with his eyes closed. All his homework was done so he decided to just relax. Now it was time to feign sickness.

Footsteps were coming up the stairs then there was a knock on his door. Sesshomaru's mother, Kimi, walked in and frowned. "Sesshomaru, what's wrong?" she asked worriedly.

"I'm just not feeling well…" Sesshomaru lied.

She walked over and sat on his bed feeling his forehead for a fever. "What hurts?"

"My head and stomach. I kind of feel like I'm gonna throw up."

"Do you want anything for it?"

"No, you know I don't like taking pills."

"Just thought I'd offer. Maybe you should miss school tomorrow."

"I'm sure I'll be fine by the morning." He couldn't be eager otherwise his mother would be suspicious. He always pretended that he liked school.

"Hm, well if I still think you're sick in the morning then you're not going."

He sighed. "Yeah, okay."

"Do you want anything?" she asked as she stood up.

"No, I'm fine for now but thanks."

He watched as she left his room. Success. After two and a half years he had perfected this act. All he had to do was fake being sick in the morning and he'd skip out on an entire day of torment. He frowned. He had to sink down to lying to his own parents, he had to pretend being ill so he wouldn't have to go to school. Normal kids didn't have to do that. Normal kids went to school and had friends and weren't hated by everyone.

_Why me?_

When he had first moved here he had never been mean to anyone, he had never tried to distance himself from people. But he still had been labeled a freak as soon as he walked onto that campus. Sure he was a little odd and had some trouble with simple conversation, but that didn't give people the right to do the things they did to him. The fact that he was gay didn't help but it wasn't the main reason for why he had been singled out. The majority of students didn't really care but it was something to use against Sesshomaru, and use it they did.

He felt the same tears from earlier burn at his eyes again. This time he didn't bother trying to stop them. He was in his own room, the only safe place he had, the only place where he could just let go. Feeling horrible, he buried his face into his pillow and cried.

…

The next morning Sesshomaru woke up with a headache. _Well, at least I won't be lying that much now._ A few minutes later his mother walked in.

"How you feeling, Sessh?" she asked as she felt him for fever again.

"My stomach still hurts and my headache got worse," he told her.

"You're staying home then. Do you want me to stay too?"

"No, it's okay. You don't have to miss work."

"Alright. Call me later if you need to. Do you want anything?"

"No."

"You didn't eat anything yesterday. You should probably have a little something."

"Can I just have some juice? I'm not really up for anything else."

"Okay. I'll be right back."

Sesshomaru felt bad for having his mother do anything for him while he pretended to be sick. She always insisted though. But it still made him feel bad.

She brought him his juice then got ready for work. After saying bye to him she left. He was all alone now, his father had left before he woke up.

He was going to get up but then decided not to. There was no point. He would just take advantage of this day and relax. With that thought he sipped some juice then closed his eyes and fell back asleep.

For the rest of the morning Sesshomaru faded in and out of consciousness. Around noon he finally got out of bed and took a shower. Before he stepped into the water he stared at his naked body in the mirror. _I'm an ugly freak. No wonder everyone hates me…_ He tore his eyes away from the pathetic being in front of him and got into the shower. After he was done he lounged around the house thinking about whether or not he should continue faking ill. He was dreading school tomorrow. _I guess I'll just go._ He would have to go back eventually and there really wasn't any point in getting behind on his schoolwork.

His mother came home a bit early. She found Sesshomaru curled up on the couch watching tv.

"Hi, mom," he greeted as she walked into the living room.

"Hey, hun," she said. "How are you feeling?"

"Better. I'll be fine by the morning."

"Are you sure? Will you be up for going to school?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. I'm glad it wasn't anything too serious." As she stood up she grabbed a blanket and put it over him. It was January and he was cold. She could tell.

"Thanks," he told her. After she went upstairs to change he snuggled into the blanket. He had been cold but didn't want to get up to get a blanket.

The next morning Sesshomaru lay in bed staring at the wall for a few minutes before climbing out of bed. His clock read 6:15 AM, it was time to get ready for a miserable day at school.

He left an hour later. Since both his parents worked he had to walk to school. It took him about thirty minutes and school started at eight. He left a little earlier than usual so he could take a detour and buy a drink at the coffee shop. At least adults weren't mean to him. He knew most of the workers there and they knew him.

"Hey, Sessh," one of the twenty year old workers called out when he walked in. Her name was Abi and she was his favorite person there.

"Hi, Abi," he said with a smile. "How are you?"

"Eh, I'm alright. They're working me until four today so yeah. You know how that is."

"Oh, ew. Tomorrow any better?"

"Yeah, ten to three. I didn't see you yesterday or Tuesday. Did you stop by?"

"No, I was sick so I've been home."

"Aw, poor baby. You all better now?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Good. Here you go." When she saw him she had begun to make the drink he always got.

"Thanks." He went to grab his wallet to pay.

"Don't worry about it today, hun."

"You sure?"

"Mhm."

Another worker took over the cashier so Abi was getting people's orders. She and Sesshomaru talked until he looked at the time.

"Fuck," he cursed. "I'm going to be late for school."

"You got five minutes. Better run."

"To hell with that. Alright, bye, Abi."

"See ya later."

He walked the rest of the distance to his school. Now when he went to class everyone would stare at him until he sat down. Since it was already ten minutes after the first bell rang he had to get a pass from the office. Afterwards he walked to his classroom and went in. He handed his note to the teacher then went to his seat in the front row. He kept his head down and didn't look at anyone. Once at his desk he took out his notebook to copy what was written on the board. He didn't notice the new person in class who was looking at Sesshomaru with curiosity.

"Alright," the teacher said twenty minutes later. "Get into partners for this next activity."

Sesshomaru inwardly frowned. Why did teachers do this? Didn't they realize that some kids had no one to work with, that some kids were hated by everyone else? Now he'd be embarrassed since he was the only one without a person to work with.

"Naraku," the teacher called.

_Who's that?_

"Why don't you work with Sesshomaru? He'll explain the material to you."

"Okay."

"Sesshomaru, raise your hand so he knows who you are."

He did and then noticed someone sit next to him. Sesshomaru looked at him and saw a guy with long black hair and crimson eyes. He was a couple inches taller than Sesshomaru too.

"Hi," the guy said. "I'm Naraku."

"Hello," he said back warily. "I'm Sesshomaru. So you're new here?"

"Yeah. I moved down here from Washington. Better job for my dad."

"Well, that kind of sucks. I moved here about two and a half years ago."

"Oh, really? Where from?"

"Boston."

"Do you like it better here?"

"No."

"Heh, well, that makes me feel better."

Sesshomaru shrugged. "I'm just honest."

"Yeah, I'm only messing."

Their conversation was interrupted by the teacher. "Boys, get to work," he said as he walked by the pair.

Sesshomaru glanced at him before looking back at Naraku. "Alright, this is just about grammar…"

Naraku skimmed through the worksheet they had been given. "Yeah…for an AP class this junk is pretty easy."

They quickly finished it and were the first pair done. Sesshomaru stayed quiet. Naraku noticed that the shorter boy didn't even look at anyone. Naraku was bothered by the silence but didn't try to start a conversation. He didn't want to annoy Sesshomaru or anyone on his first day. Soon it was time to go to next period so the students stood up to leave.

"Hey," Naraku said before Sesshomaru had a chance to go.

"What?" Sesshomaru asked.

"I don't know where any of my classes are really. Would you mind showing me around?"

Sesshomaru hesitated before answering. "I guess it's fine. Let me see your schedule." Naraku handed it over and he saw that they had almost the same schedules. "We're in four classes together…only our fourth periods are different." They started walking.

"What's your class during fourth?"

"Art."

"Oh. That sounds better than health."

"Yeah, it is. I took health at the beginning of sophomore year."

"I should have done that instead of taking dumb electives. What do we have right now?"

"Pre-calc."

"I don't know why they put me in honors again. I barely pulled off a B last semester."

"This class isn't hard. The teacher sucks at her job."

They reached the door and walked in. Sesshomaru went to his seat in the back corner while Naraku talked to the teacher. Sesshomaru sighed slightly as the other boy made his way to him. Naraku seemed nice and all but Sesshomaru knew what would happen, it always happened. Some new kid would come and try to be friends with Sesshomaru. Then everyone else would talk to them and turn them against him. Hating the white-haired boy meant popularity and no new kid could resist that. Sesshomaru knew that that was what was going to happen with Naraku. The others would talk to him and tell him all sorts of bad things about Sesshomaru and then Naraku would hate him too.

Naraku smiled at Sesshomaru then sat in the desk right in front of him. He turned around to talk to the quiet teenager. "Hope you don't mind me sitting here."

"I don't mind," Sesshomaru told him. He glanced around the classroom. A lot of the other students were looking at him. He quickly turned his gaze down. Naraku noticed and frowned. He too looked at the others and saw that some were glaring at Sesshomaru. "Why are they staring at you like that?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Then why did you suddenly look down?"

Sesshomaru lifted his head and looked directly into Naraku's eyes. "Why are you asking so many questions?" A hint of anger leaked into his voice.

Naraku was unaffected by the glare he was receiving. "They shouldn't look at you that way, it isn't normal. You didn't do something to all of them, did you?" Although that seemed highly unlikely.

"No, I never did a damn thing to anyone!" Both he and Naraku were surprised that he had just yelled. The class laughed at him while Naraku just stared. Sesshomaru looked down, his face red with embarrassment.

"Sesshomaru," the teacher said. "If you're going to be a disruption through class then you can leave now."

Sesshomaru didn't say a word, he just continued to keep his head down. Eventually the laughter died down and class returned to normal. Naraku took one last glimpse at Sesshomaru before facing the front of the classroom and taking down notes.

"Sesshomaru," Naraku called out after class. He waited until the other boy stopped. "Are you mad at me?"

"No," he told him. "…I'm sorry for yelling at you."

"Don't worry about it. I shouldn't have said what I said. Still want to show me to my next class?"

"Sure." Sesshomaru noticed that other students were looking at him again. "It's far from mine so I'll just point you in the right direction. You see the stairs over there?"

"Mhm."

"Go up them and then go straight. The building is right there."

"Alright."

"Oh, and our fifth period is in the same building as English just on the opposite side."

"Thanks, Sesshomaru. See you in physics."

"Bye." Sesshomaru then quickly took off to his own class. Everyone would make fun of him more now since he was 'trying to taint the new kid' as they put it. He went to art and sighed, glad that the person sitting next to him simply ignored him.

…

He walked into physics early. Only a few other people who ignored Sesshomaru were there. He wondered if Naraku would find the room alright. A couple minutes later the black-haired boy walked in…but he wasn't alone. He was with a couple of people who didn't really like Sesshomaru.

_And so it begins._

Naraku had found better, normal friends_._ He saw him go up to the teacher then turned his gaze away. Even if he knew it was going to happen that didn't lessen how much it hurt. He was writing something down in his notebook when someone sat in front of him. Then wavy black hair caught his eye. He looked up and saw Naraku. He searched for the other two he had come in with and saw them at their usual seats on the opposite side of the room.

"Hey, Sesshomaru," Naraku said with a smile.

"Hi," he said back. "So you've met Toran and Shuran, huh?"

"Yeah. I don't really like them though."

"Why?"

"They're assholes." Naraku was still thinking about what they had said. He didn't believe any of it.

"Yeah, they are. They don't like me."

"I know…" They had first come up to Naraku asking where he was from. Then they mentioned seeing him with Sesshomaru. From there they slowly started saying more and more bad things about the golden-eyed teen. Naraku may not have known him for long but Sesshomaru didn't seem at all like the way they were portraying him.

"They were talking about me." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

"Yeah."

"And you believe them?"

"No. I could tell they were lying, that's why I'm sitting with you."

Before Sesshomaru had a chance to respond the teacher called Naraku to her desk. Sesshomaru thought about what he said. Naraku didn't…he didn't believe them. He turned down having normal friends just to sit with him. Him, Sesshomaru, the ugly friendless freak. Maybe he wasn't like everyone else. A small bit of hope appeared but Sesshomaru immediately crushed it down.

_Just give him time._

Naraku would turn out like the rest of them.

…

"So where do you hang out at lunch?" Naraku asked.

They were outside right now. After fifth was lunch and after that was sixth then seventh period. Sixth period ended at two which was when Sesshomaru got out of school. Naraku had a seventh so he got out at three.

"I, uh, I leave campus," Sesshomaru told him. What he didn't tell him was that he left everyday because he'd get made fun of if he didn't.

"You meeting up with anyone?"

Sesshomaru became nervous. He didn't want to say that he had no friends and sat alone everyday. "Not today." He waited for Naraku to start laughing at him.

"Mind if I join you then?"

"They already gave you an off-campus pass?"

"Yep."

"Then you can come if you want."

They left together to buy something to eat. Sesshomaru didn't know what to say as they started walking. No one ever said anything to him that wasn't teasing. Over time he lost his skills to have a real conversation. Luckily Naraku was very talkative. He asked a lot of questions about the town and about Sesshomaru's home state. Sesshomaru started asking him about where he used to live too.

They reached the plaza they were headed to and walked into the sandwich shop. Sesshomaru paid for his food then waited for the wavy-haired boy to do the same. As Naraku pulled out his wallet, he noticed that there was a patch on it. Sesshomaru knew that sign well.

Once they were back outside Sesshomaru said only two words. "Rainbow patch."

"Heh, yep."

"So you're one of us?"

"Dude, you're gay too?"

"Yeah."

"God, I'm so glad I found someone else. How are people here about it?"

"For the most part, they don't really care."

"Alright, good…I was a bit worried about that. I don't want to be known as that queer who kicks everyone's ass."

"Pfft, is that what you would do if someone made fun of you?"

"Of course. I don't let anyone push me around. If they try then they end up regretting it."

_That's what normal people do. They don't let themselves get beat up like I do._ Sesshomaru looked at the ground. Yet again he managed to do things differently than normal people.

"Hey, are you okay?"

He looked up. "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"You just looked spaced out or something."

"I'm fine."

"Okay. So when did you come out?"

"When I was thirteen."

"Damn, eighth grade. How did people react?"

"My parents were fine with it. They've never given me problems. My friends accepted me too. Hell, the majority of them were gay or trans so they were open."

"Damn, I guess we're the two lucky ones then. I didn't have too many problems coming out of the closet either."

_Yeah…lucky._ "That's good. Quite a few of my friends were afraid to come out to their families. It's pretty sad that someone might never speak to their own flesh or blood based on the person they're attracted to."

"It's fucking disgusting. I would never do that to my child or anyone. Hopefully, people will learn that we aren't a bunch of freaks."

Sesshomaru thought about those words. Maybe Naraku wasn't a freak but he was.

The two males stood up from the grass. They had walked over to the park to sit down and eat. It was time to go back to school now if they wanted to be on time.

"Alright, so what's our next class?" Naraku asked.

"History."

"Easy or hard?"

"It's actually kind of difficult."

"Ugh, I hope I'll be able to catch up. The schools in Washington are all fucked up compared to here."

"I'm sure you'll be fine."

…

School was over. At least for Sesshomaru it was. Sixth period just ended and that meant he was done for the day.

"I know you're done with school but you wanna walk me to my seventh?" Naraku asked.

"Sure," Sesshomaru replied. "You have p.e, right?"

"Yep. I wanted to have a first period so I would get out at two but they said there wasn't enough room."

"Since it's still early in the semester other kids might drop classes and make room."

"Hope so. I don't want to be here until three."

They walked to the p.e. area and Sesshomaru showed him where the locker rooms were. He was glad he finished his two-year requirement already. It had been torture to change with all the other boys making fun of him. They would say that he was staring at them while they changed or that he was too ugly to change in there.

"Thanks, Sesshomaru."

Naraku's voice suddenly brought him back to present time. "What? Oh, yeah, no problem."

"So, yeah. I appreciate you showing me around and letting me hang out with you. See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Bye, Naraku."

"Bye."

Naraku walked into the locker room and then Sesshomaru left. He only got to the other side of the building before a group of people stopped him. It was the person he hated the most along with all his little followers.

"What do you want, Koga?" Sesshomaru growled.

"Heh, someone's a little feisty today. I see you've been hanging around the new kid. Trying to contaminate him, are you?" Koga asked while slowly making his way towards the white-haired boy.

"Fuck off."

"I bet you'd like that, faggot. I thought we already taught you not to spread your disease to anyone. Guess you're too stupid though. Leave Naraku alone. He doesn't want to be your friend, no one does. You're a fucking freak. Freaks like you should know their place."

"I-I wasn't trying to be his friend. He just sort of followed."

"Good. Maybe you're not as dumb as I thought. What are you gonna tell him tomorrow then?"

"To leave me alone. That I'm not his friend." All the fight in Sesshomaru was gone. His only concern now was escaping without getting beat up.

"That's right." Koga then shoved him against the wall and got in his face. "You know what will happen if I catch you around him again."

Sesshomaru nodded and Koga laughed. He pushed him harder against the building before turning back to his friends.

"Let's go. This bitch is taken care of."

Sesshomaru looked around once they left and saw a few people staring at him. He left the school in a hurry. What had been a decent day was now ruined.


	2. Chapter 2

WARNING (this story will contain the following): homosexual relationships, sex scenes, major OOCness, AU (modern times), fluff, uke Sesshomaru, bullying, author is a complete sap…did I mention _major_ OOCness?

I have a good portion of this story written. The next few chapters should be out in a few days or so. ^_^ Thanks for reading and reviewing!

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Chapter Two

It was Friday now. All he had to do was get through this day and then he'd be free of torture for two days.

It was the day after Koga "talked" to him. The white-haired boy was sitting on a bench outside sipping on his coffee. He and half his English class were waiting for the teacher to come. Naraku hadn't shown up yet and Sesshomaru was glad for that. When it came down to it he didn't want to tell Naraku to leave him alone. Even though the crimson-eyed teen would ditch him for normal friends, he still didn't want to be mean to the guy. He didn't want to get beat up by Koga and all his friends either though. His torture was hard enough to endure already, he wouldn't be able to handle additional beatings on top of that.

Some of the kids started gathering their stuff and he noticed that the teacher was coming. Naraku still wasn't there and that was a good thing. They had a seating chart in this class so he and the taller male didn't sit near each other.

About twenty minutes into class, Naraku walked in with a pass.

"Late on your second day?" the teacher asked him.

"I was talking to the counselor," Naraku told him in a tone that said 'fuck off.' He walked to his seat and caught Sesshomaru's eyes. He smiled at the white-haired boy and Sesshomaru shyly smiled back. He kept his gaze down after that.

After class Sesshomaru tried to leave quickly so Naraku wouldn't talk to him. It didn't work though.

"Hey, Sesshomaru," the raven-haired teenager said.

"Hi," he said back, not looking at him.

"What's up?"

"Nothing."

Naraku raised an eyebrow. He already knew Sesshomaru was really quiet but now he was being cold too. "Something wrong?"

"No."

"Why are you being a prick all of a sudden?"

That hurt Sesshomaru's feelings but he didn't show it. "Fuck you. How do you know that I'm not like this all the time? Maybe I'm just naturally a prick."

"Wow, maybe I was wrong about you."

Sesshomaru wanted to apologize but he saw Koga a little ways off. He remembered what that bastard said then glared at Naraku. "Yeah, maybe you were." They reached their class.

Naraku sneered at him then went inside. Sesshomaru followed and sat in his usual seat in the back. He frowned when Naraku sat on the opposite side. He wanted to tell Naraku that he was sorry and that he didn't mean it but he was scared of Koga. The bully would make sure Sesshomaru regretted not listening to him if he disobeyed. He had already learned that the hard way.

The student from Washington didn't look at him for the rest of class but Sesshomaru would glance at him. He berated himself for feeling so badly over this. He had only known Naraku for one day, he shouldn't have felt anything for the other boy. But Naraku had given him a feeling that he hadn't felt in a long time. He had felt not hated, like someone actually wanted to be around him. Someone didn't think of him as a disgusting freak…

And now he ruined it. It would've eventually been ruined anyways but maybe it could have lasted a little while longer before that happened. Now Naraku would hate him and it really was his fault this time. He slowly gathered his things after math was over. He watched as Naraku left with a few other people, talking and laughing with them. That hurt Sesshomaru and he decided he wouldn't go to his last couple of classes. He'd get in trouble when the school called his parents but that didn't matter. All they would do was ground him and it made no difference to the boy with no one to hang out with anyways. He got through fourth period then left the hell that others called school.

…

The school called that night but neither of his parents was home. They had gone out together and wouldn't be home until late. He listened to the recording for a few seconds before hanging up the phone and deleting the call off the machine. His thoughts drifted to Naraku and he quickly tried to push them away.

It was better this way. Naraku would eventually hate him no matter what so maybe it was better that it happened now instead of later. Later when Sesshomaru was more attached to the boy.

_Does he really hate me?_

Well, did he? Did he really believe that Sesshomaru had been acting yesterday, that he truly was a jerk? Sesshomaru wasn't that way because he enjoyed it. He was only cold when he had to be, it wasn't a choice. But he couldn't make Naraku understand that and it was better that he didn't.

…

"Sesshomaru, wake up."

He heard someone mumble something but couldn't quite understand. He registered it as unimportant then closed his eyes again. He groaned when someone started shaking him gently.

"Come on, wake up."

"Why?" he grumbled then turned around and pulled the blankets over himself.

"You have to get ready. We're going to your aunt's today."

"Izayoi's?"

"Yes."

"Is Inuyasha gonna be there?"

"Yes."

"...Then I'm not going."

Kimi shook her head then grabbed her son's blankets and yanked them down.

"Hey, it's cold!" He sat up rubbing his eyes then glared at her.

"Now get dressed. I'm sure Inuyasha won't be that bad."

Sesshomaru rolled his eyes then got up to take a shower.

…

He and his parents pulled up onto the street his aunt and cousin lived on. Izayoi was his dad's sister (technically half but that didn't matter) and Inuyasha was her son. Sesshomaru didn't mind her so much, she was nice enough, but Inuyasha annoyed him. He was only a year younger than Sesshomaru and he always tried to act like some big bad ass. It was ridiculous.

He sighed as he got out of the car. His dad walked up ahead of them. Kimi saw her son's look and stayed back to talk to him for a second.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he told her.

"I'm sure it won't be that bad." She leaned closer so she could whisper to him. "And if Inuyasha annoys you too much then I give you permission to hit him."

"Haha, gee thanks," Sesshomaru chuckled.

An hour later Sesshomaru was sitting at a nearby park with Inuyasha…and Inuyasha's friends. They were all annoying and dumb as fuck. Even he wouldn't want friends if they were his only option. They were all sitting in a circle talking about people at their school. All of them were freshmen, even Inuyasha since he had been held back a year in elementary school. They thought they were so cool. One of them had managed to steal a couple bottles of beer from their parents. It wasn't even a good brand.

"Why are you so quiet, Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha asked.

He didn't miss the slight sneer in his cousin's voice. "Because I have nothing to say to any of you."

"Whatever."

"Actually, I thought of something. Is this really all you guys do?"

"What? Don't drink or something?" Inuyasha's friend Kagome asked.

"Not in the middle of a park with a bunch of freshmen."

"So you only drink if you're with your friends?" Inuyasha said. "Oh, wait. You don't have any!" He and the rest of his group started laughing. Inuyasha was just trying to rile him up, he didn't know that those words were actually true.

Sesshomaru was hurt but he didn't let it show. "Done," he said as he stood up. "I really tried but you guys are too fucking annoying." He walked off intending to go back to the house.

"Hey!" Inuyasha yelled. "If you tell my mom anything I'll kick your ass!"

Sesshomaru said nothing but turned around and flipped him off.

…

"That went well," Kimi said.

She, her husband, and her son were driving back to their house. They had just left Izayoi's house a few minutes ago. Kimi had been outside when her son came back angry. She calmed him down and told him not to mention anything to his dad. Touga didn't see his family that often so Kimi and Sesshomaru agreed to make it seem like they were having a good time. The wife didn't mind it but she knew Sesshomaru did.

"Mhm," Touga agreed. "It was nice to catch up with Izayoi finally."

Sesshomaru said nothing since he didn't want to ruin anything for his father. He just looked out the window. It was a long drive home.

…

Sunday passed by with nothing eventful going on. It went by way too quickly for Sesshomaru though. It was already going to be Monday again. He'd have to face all his bullies and Naraku. He didn't want to think about any of them so he went to sleep early that night.

He woke up late. It was seven by the time he got out of bed. He rushed to get ready and by the time he was out the door it was 7:45. He had to get a pass once he reached the school then he slowly walked to the classroom. The entire class stared at him as he opened the door and went inside the room. He didn't look at anyone and sat silently for the rest of the hour.

By fifth period, Sesshomaru was sitting in his corner listening to Naraku's voice. The crimson-eyed teen was with other people in the opposite corner. He and Naraku hadn't talked at all that day. Sesshomaru knew he was being ignored. He told himself it was nothing new but it still hurt.

Sesshomaru suddenly heard his own name being spoken then laughter coming from Naraku's group. All of them were laughing…except the black-haired teen. Sesshomaru looked at them, everyone was staring back. His eyes focused on crimson for the first time since Friday morning. Naraku wasn't amused in the slightest by what they had said. He didn't acknowledge Sesshomaru though and turned to face his 'friends' again.

Sesshomaru tore his gaze from the rest of them. _At least he wasn't laughing at me._

…

The next couple days passed by and nothing changed. Sesshomaru was still a freak. Naraku had friends now and was gaining popularity among students. Sesshomaru was sure that everyone had told Naraku all about him and convinced him that the quiet boy was to be hated. He had been teased a few times but Naraku was never a part of it. He had never even been around when it happened. He found that strange but tried to think nothing of it.

It was Wednesday. The two o'clock bell had just rung. Sesshomaru packed up his stuff but he couldn't leave school yet. He had to go to his English class to get help for an essay. He was done with that about twenty minutes later. He walked around the building to get to the gates but instantly stopped. Koga and a couple of his friends were standing at the corner blocking his way. They started coming towards him so he turned around to run. They were quicker though and caught him. Koga grabbed him tightly around the arms and forced him back the other way.

"Come on, Sesshy," Koga sneered. "Let's go on a little walk."

"What do you guys want?" Sesshomaru asked.

"You need to be taught a lesson." He then practically dragged Sesshomaru with him as he and his friends went to the nearest deserted location.

"I did what you said! I haven't talked to Naraku for almost a week."

"Bitches like you just need to be reminded of your place."

Sesshomaru said nothing else. This had been exactly what he was trying to avoid. Now he was going to get beat up. He had made Naraku think he was a jerk for nothing. They took him to some street with an empty park on one side and a field on the other. Koga had Hakaku hold Sesshomaru in place after going to the field and then proceeded to punch the boy in the stomach. Sesshomaru grunted when the fist made contact. Koga punched him over and over until the golden-eyed teen was depending on Hakaku to keep him upright.

"Drop his ass, Hakaku," Koga ordered.

As soon as he did Sesshomaru tumbled to the ground. All three of them took turns kicking and hitting him. Eventually it ended and they laughed at him before taking off. He stayed in the grass for a few minutes before picking himself up. He crossed the street to cut through the park but stopped.

Why? Why did this happen to him? Why did he deserve this? He went to the nearest wall and sank down. His knees were pulled up, his arms wrapped around them. This was too much. How was he going to get through another year and a half of high school? He couldn't, he just couldn't…

Tears burned at his eyes and this time it was impossible for him to hold them back. For the first time in years he cried outside the private comfort of his room. His cries turned into sobs and he buried his head into his arms. So much pain was coursing through him and a lot of it wasn't physical. His crying died down slightly but his body still shook. He was drained in every way possible and he didn't know what to do.

"Sesshomaru?"

Wide, golden eyes looked up at the person who had spoken. "N-Naraku?"

Naraku didn't say anything as he sat next to the boy. He wrapped his arms around him and was mildly surprised when the smaller teen didn't pull away.

Sesshomaru took the comfort he had never been offered before and cried on Naraku's shoulder. For a long time neither of them said anything. Naraku just held him tightly with one arm while his free hand rubbed circles on his back. When he thought he was calming down he began to speak.

"Sesshomaru, what happened?"

"I-I'm sorry," he apologized. His head was still resting on the other's shoulder. "I'm not really an asshole…that's not how I want to be."

Naraku didn't understand what this was all about. "What's going on? Why are you crying?"

Sesshomaru didn't speak for a long time. Finally he pulled his head up to look at Naraku. "K-Koga."

"Koga did this to you?" Naraku was no fool. One look at the boy and anyone could tell that he had just gotten his ass kicked.

Sesshomaru nodded and looked down. He was too ashamed to look Naraku in the face.

"Why?"

"I deserve it. He always does it, everyone does it. I know your friends have told you stories about me by now."

"You don't deserve to be beaten up." His anger for the boy was gone. Seeing him so vulnerable like this…Sesshomaru couldn't be cold like he had thought. "You were apologizing to me. What did you mean?"

"…Last week Koga told me to leave you alone. He said if I did then he wouldn't beat me up…but he did anyways. I'm sorry."

Naraku was shocked. Did people really threaten Sesshomaru? Well, apparently so. "It's okay. I wouldn't have wanted to get beat up either. Come on, let's go to my house so we can get you cleaned up."

"You don't hate me?"

"No. I never did. I was mad but I don't hate you." Naraku stood with the other teen. He let him hold onto him for support so he wouldn't fall.

They reached his house and went inside. Naraku had him sit at the kitchen table then got a wet rag. Sesshomaru's lip was bleeding and so were a couple spots on his head. Naraku carefully wiped the blood away.

"Was it just Koga who did this?" he asked.

"No…Ginta and Hakaku were with him too. Why are you helping me? Why don't you hate me like everyone else?" Sesshomaru didn't understand it. No one ever cared to help him, why did Naraku?

"Why wouldn't I help you? I wasn't about to leave you in the park sobbing. I'm sure everyone doesn't hate you…"

"Yes, they do. No one likes me. That's why I have no friends. Everyone either makes fun of me or ignores me. Everyone glared at me when they saw me talking to you. They say freaks like me don't deserve friends. They're right."

"I like you. And you're not a freak. I liked hanging out with you last week."

"R-really?"

"Mhm. You're not a freak, Sesshomaru…don't believe what those assholes say." He went to hug Sesshomaru.

He broke down crying again. After two and a half years of being alone and getting teased and hit, it finally overwhelmed him. They stayed quiet for a long time. After Sesshomaru had no more tears Naraku spoke up.

"We'll get back at Koga and his friends," he said.

Sesshomaru shook his head. "He'll just come with more people next time. If they see you defending me then everyone will turn on you too."

Naraku frowned. "Fuck them then. Can't you tell the school or something what's going on?"

"No…they won't believe me over the entire junior and senior class. They'll twist it into being my fault. The school won't do anything to help."

"Don't worry. We'll just get everyone who's hurt you one at a time then."

His voice was so full of confidence and Sesshomaru was surprised by that. How could the two of them get revenge on everyone? Then it hit him. The two of them. Not Sesshomaru alone, Naraku was offering to stand by his side and help him. He knew what was going on now yet he still didn't turn on him like everyone else. For the first time in a very long time, Sesshomaru no longer felt alone.

"Everyone will hate you too...you won't have any friends..."

"I'll have you. And if everyone is such a fucking jerk then I don't want them as friends."

"...Why?"

"No one deserves to get made fun of and beat up. I just…when I saw you at the park sitting there...I don't want you to go through that again. The kids at school have no right to do what they do to you."

Sesshomaru looked at the floor, not knowing if he should believe him. Was Naraku really telling the truth or would he turn on him once other kids started hating him too? "Do you really mean that?"

Naraku nodded, a dead serious look on his face.

"Thanks…"

"Don't worry, Sesshomaru. Things will get better."

Sesshomaru stayed up most of the night. Shortly after their conversation Naraku had taken him home. His mother was a bit surprised when a boy walked in with Sesshomaru since he never brought his friends over. Or at least the friends he lied about having. She was also surprised to see him with a bruised face. He told her that he had gotten in a fight but it wasn't as bad as it looked. Naraku left a little bit after that.

Now he was nervous about tomorrow. He wondered what would happen and whether or not Naraku would stand by him.

...

Their English teacher was late again. Most of the class was waiting outside. Sesshomaru was sitting on a nearby bench shivering. It was the middle of January and in his rush to get out the door this morning he had left his jacket behind. He would have been late if he went back to grab it so he just went to school without it. Annoyed, he realized he would have had time to get it since the teacher was late. He saw Naraku walk around the corner of the building. A few students said hi to him and he just gave them a curt greeting back. He passed them until he reached Sesshomaru then sat next to him. Several people gave them questioning looks but no one said anything.

"Hi, Sesshomaru."

"Hi."

"Don't you have a jacket?"

"I forgot it." He then saw Naraku taking off his own. "What are you doing?"

"Letting you wear mine." He then draped it over the smaller boy's shoulders.

"No, don't." He tried to give it back but Naraku refused. "It's my fault I don't have one."

"Take it."

Sesshomaru saw that he wasn't going to accept it back so he put his arms through the slightly-too-long sleeves. It was warm, he would stop shivering very soon.

Five minutes later the teacher came unlocking the door and muttering some apology. Sesshomaru felt Naraku's hand on his shoulder before they each went to their seats.

_He actually sat with me…he sat with me and gave me his jacket._ A dark voice in the back of his mind told him that Naraku would eventually get tired of him but he ignored it. Naraku didn't back out, he stayed despite the stares and sneers they had received.

When English was over Naraku walked over to Sesshomaru's desk. They went outside together and headed over to math.

"Oh," Sesshomaru said. "Here's your jacket back." Truthfully he wanted it still since it was cold out but he felt bad for having it.

"It's going to be cold all day so keep it," Naraku told him. "The cold doesn't affect me much."

He zipped the black jacket up to keep the wind out. "Thanks. Did you notice everyone looking at us?"

"Yeah, no one said anything though."

"Not yet."

"Don't worry about that right now. Oh, I got my schedule switched."

"Do you get out at two now?"

"Yep. They switched health to first and pe to fourth. I'm hoping next year I'll have to take only five classes."

"Unless you're really behind in credits than you should be able to."

When they walked into pre-calc everyone stared at them. Still no one said anything.

"Morning, class," the teacher said. "Take out last night's homework and see if you have any questions. There may be a quiz on chapter eight."

Most of the class groaned since that had been the hardest chapter. Sesshomaru understood it fine and was one of the few that actually did. Naraku turned around to face him.

"I don't get it," he stated.

"Which part don't you get?" Sesshomaru asked.

"All of it."

"You're gonna have to be a little more specific than that."

"Can you show me the first problem?"

"Alright, give me your notebook."

Sesshomaru was better at explaining the material than the teacher was. The two worked quietly in the corner while the teacher took other students' questions up front. By the time the quiz was being handed out Naraku understood some of it.

"Yay, I won't fail now," he said.

"Heh. A+?"

"More like C-. Thanks for the help."

"No problem."

The rest of third, fourth, and fifth period passed by without any problems. It was lunch now and the two boys were leaving the campus. While they were walking Sesshomaru repeatedly looked around to see if anyone was following them.

"Calm down, Sesshomaru. No one's after us."

Sesshomaru didn't say anything about it. He did stop looking though.

…

"We got through the whole day without anyone bothering us," Naraku said. They were currently walking to Sesshomaru's house since Naraku wanted to take him there before he went to his own.

"They're waiting," Sesshomaru mumbled.

"We'll be ready for them."

There he went with that same confidence in his voice again. Sesshomaru just couldn't understand how he could be anything but…scared. Like he was…Sesshomaru was scared of what was going to happen. He had no idea what the other students were going to do but he was sure it would be bad. And now he had brought someone else to the outside, outside of what was normal. He was no longer the only outcast. _Maybe they won't hate him as much as they do me._ It was a possibility. Naraku had some time to befriend other people so perhaps they wouldn't think of him as a freak. It was unlikely but Sesshomaru hoped Naraku wouldn't be as hated as he was.

"It's this one, remember?" Sesshomaru told him when they were in front of his house.

"Alright, I'll be on my way," Naraku said.

Sesshomaru held out his jacket and Naraku finally accepted it back. "See you tomorrow then."

"Bye, Sesshomaru." Naraku then surprised Sesshomaru by hugging him. Naraku knew the boy could use some non-violent contact.

Sesshomaru was too surprised to react. Naraku let him go, smiled, then left. _Touching me didn't repulse him._ He went into his house, happy that someone willingly touched him without causing pain.

…

The next day at school everyone in history was assigned to do a project. It was a major one and would be worth a lot of points. It was also to be completed in pairs. Fortunately they were able to choose their partners. Sesshomaru and Naraku were of course together and were currently trying to figure out what to do.

"So we have to do six outlines?" Naraku asked.

"Yeah. Then we have to show how they relate to each other and string them together in a creative way," Sesshomaru explained.

"Mhm, fuck this. Alright, and we have one month. We should do this now and get it out of the way early."

"Agreed."

"Do you have time this weekend?"

"Tomorrow I do. Not Sunday though because I have to go to my aunt's house."

"Tomorrow works. We can just research stuff. If we start early then we don't have to overwork ourselves later."

"Where do you want to meet?"

"Can we do it at your house? Next time can be at mine."

"Okay. We can work in peace then, no one will be there to bother us."

"Good. Yeah, my parents are having friends over tomorrow so that's why my place is no good. What time?"

"One or two."

"I can be there around one."

"…That was easy."

"Heh, yeah. Let's just hope it stays that way."

…

That night Sesshomaru ran around cleaning his already spotless house. He didn't want Naraku to think he was messy or something. He was nervous. He had never had anyone over before, hopefully he wouldn't do anything wrong. Touga came home and wondered what his son was doing. Music was on and Sesshomaru was in shorts and a black t-shirt.

"Eh, Sesshomaru?" he called out.

His son stopped and faced him. "Hi, dad," he said with a smile.

"Hi. What are you doing?"

"Cleaning."

"…Why?"

"Someone from school is coming over tomorrow to work on a project."

"Oh. How was school?"

"Fine. Oh, I got my physics test back today. Ninety-six percent."

Touga smiled. "Good job. No surprise you got an A."

"Thanks."

Sesshomaru returned to his cleaning as his dad disappeared somewhere. An hour later his mom came home and he retold his story.

"Alright. Just as long as you're studying and not anything else…" Kimi trailed off. Sesshomaru knew exactly what she was insinuating.

All the color drained from his face. "You did not just say that."

"I'm just teasing you. Unless you really aren't studying-"

"Not having awkward conversations!" he said loud enough to drown her voice out.

"Hehe, I'll be in the kitchen if you need me."

She then left Sesshomaru alone in the living room. He was just about done there though so he took his cleaning supplies upstairs to his room.

…

It was 12:50 and Sesshomaru was eating quickly before Naraku came over. He wanted to change out of his outfit before that. He was currently in a pair of fairly short shorts and a tank top. It was hot in the house but he didn't want to mess with the heater in fear of breaking it. He worried about Naraku seeing him and thinking him ugly for what he was wearing.

12:55. _He'll probably be late. He's always late for English._ Sesshomaru put his plate in the dishwasher and was about to go upstairs when the doorbell ran. _He's early?_ Sesshomaru opened the door and there Naraku was.

"Hey," Sesshomaru greeted nervously then moved so he could come in.

"Hi," Naraku said then smirked. "Nice legs."

He blushed. "Heh, thanks. Here, the computer's upstairs in the office. And I have a laptop so we can both look stuff up."

"Perfect. Man, it's warm in here. Much better than outside."

"Yeah, that's why I'm wearing this…it's hot."

"Yeah, so is that outfit." Naraku then winked and walked up the stairs. He couldn't help but make a comment. Sesshomaru really did look cute.

Sesshomaru's face grew hotter but he simply led Naraku to the office. The teen put his things down while Sesshomaru grabbed his laptop and history book to look for information. Within a few hours they had all the required research for the timelines.

"Yesss, done!" Naraku exclaimed as he threw his pencil down. He and Sesshomaru had written everything down and agreed that they had done enough work for the day. They each took three timelines and would organize them on their own.

"Alright, now what?" Sesshomaru asked.

"I don't know…what do you want to do? We have no more work."

Sesshomaru shrugged.

"Oh, do you wanna go to the movies? There's this one that I want to see…"

"Sure. Let me just change first."

"I'll check the times while you do that."

Sesshomaru came back a few minutes later dressed in jeans, a plain maroon t-shirt, and a black jacket. "You get the time?"

"Yeah, one starts at five. Ready?"

"Mhm, let's go."

When they got to the theater Sesshomaru found out that the movie Naraku wanted to see was a scary one, one with lots of gore…Sesshomaru hated gore. He'd just deal with it though since Naraku really wanted to see it. There were some people in there but it wasn't horribly crowded which Sesshomaru was grateful for. He didn't do well around huge groups. They sat closer to the middle. As soon as they took their seats, the theater started getting dark and previews played on the screen.

"It's really cold," Sesshomaru mumbled. He had worn a thin jacket thinking he would be fine inside.

"Want my jacket?" Naraku offered.

"No, I don't want to steal it again. Don't you ever get cold?"

"Eh, I'm fine right now. Actually, it's a little warm."

"Warm? You're crazy…"

"Here." Naraku took his off and draped it over Sesshomaru's front like a blanket.

"Thanks…"

"You're welcome."

The movie finally started and they quieted down. Within five minutes a character was being hacked with a machete, their blood splattering everywhere.

Sesshomaru's eyes darted away from the scene. _I'm really not going to like this._

Halfway through and Sesshomaru couldn't understand how Naraku _wanted_ to see this. Right now nothing was happening though. It was eerily quiet and a man was creeping through a dark hallway. Sesshomaru visibly jumped when there was a horrific scream and a thin, long pole drove through the man's eye and out the back of his head.

Naraku looked next to him at the white-haired boy. "Sesshomaru, are you okay?" he whispered.

Sesshomaru nodded. Naraku knew he wasn't enjoying it though. Instead of finding it annoying, he found it cute. Hesitantly he reached over to put an arm around his shoulders. Sesshomaru immediately looked at him with eyes that asked 'what are you doing?' Naraku just smiled at him though and returned to the movie.

Sesshomaru was surprised but didn't pull away or anything. After his initial shock disappeared he was happy that Naraku wasn't disgusted by touching him. He snuggled more into the borrowed jacket then leaned back into the arm that was wrapped around him.

It was dark outside by the time they left the theater. Naraku's dad had called demanding he come back home so they were walking to the bus stop.

"That movie kicked ass," Naraku said with a grin once they were on their way home.

"Oh, yeah. My favorite part was when the guy's head got sawed off with a dull blade…" Sesshomaru murmured.

"Heh, I'm detecting some sarcasm in that sentence."

Sesshomaru smiled. "Sarcasm? From me? No way."

They talked a little longer before they reached Naraku's stop.

"Are you gonna stay on?" he asked.

"No," Sesshomaru told him. "I'll get off with you. It's not that much farther to walk."

The bus stopped and they both got out. In a few minutes they were standing in Naraku's driveway.

"Alright, well thanks for walking with me," Naraku said.

"No problem. You've helped me out too. So I'll see you on Monday?" Sesshomaru waited for what Naraku would do, if he would hug him again or if he was repulsed by him now.

"Yeah, see you at school." Naraku stepped forward and embraced the other boy.

Sesshomaru was still surprised by it but this time he reacted. He put his arms around Naraku and smiled. After a few moments they let go of each other.

"Bye, Sesshomaru," Naraku said with a wave.

"See ya." Sesshomaru waited for him to open his door before he left. It felt good to hang out with another person. He had missed that so much.

He was walking home and saw that both his parents were there. When he went inside his mom was coming downstairs.

"Hi, Sesshomaru," she greeted. "Where were you at?"

"The movies with Naraku," he told her.

"Your friend that was working on that project with you, right?"

"Yeah."

"Didn't he just move here?"

"A couple weeks ago."

"Why don't you invite him to go with us to Izayoi's tomorrow?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because…next time after we hang out more."

"Ah, I get it. Inuyasha will be there and you don't want Naraku to meet your embarrassing cousin just yet."

Sesshomaru smiled. "Heh, something like that."

"Alright then. Maybe next time. That way you'll have someone to talk to besides Inuyasha and his delinquent friends."

Sesshomaru just barely made it through the trip to his aunt's house. The only reason he didn't snap at Inuyasha was because of his own father. Touga loved his sister and Sesshomaru didn't want to do anything to fuck up the time he got to spend with her. By the end of their visit he was wishing that he had invited Naraku to come. _No, he wouldn't have wanted to._ Why would he? That would mean meeting Sesshomaru's family and he was sure Naraku wouldn't want to be that close to him. Only close friends met each other's families. Sesshomaru was happy that Naraku was keeping his word and hanging out with him but a part of him still feared that Naraku would eventually hate him too.

…

It was happening, he was finally going to get punished for disobeying. He was a freak who wasn't allowed to have friends. That was a rule never meant to be broken and now he would pay the price.

Sesshomaru tried to be brave and stand up for himself, he truly did. It was just too difficult though. He had been beaten down for two and a half years and he was outnumbered. A group of people had followed him to his fourth period class. A boy by the name of Kumori was the leader. Sesshomaru and Naraku weren't together since they had different classes.

"Sesshomaru, you've forgotten your place," Kumori said with a look of disgust on his face. He had Sesshomaru trapped against the building. "Everyone's noticed that you've brainwashed Naraku into hanging out with you. Obviously you're blackmailing him or something, nobody would spend time with you otherwise. You stupid little freak!"

He lifted his hand to smack the golden-eyed boy so Sesshomaru closed his eyes tightly. It never happened though.

"Let him go, you dim-witted cunt," a familiar voice growled.

Both Kumori and Sesshomaru looked over to see Naraku standing there.

Kumori sneered and pushed the boy harder to the wall. "What the fuck are you gonna do? You're outnumbered four to one. This bitch I got here is useless to you."

"If you don't let him go right now then I promise that you'll regret it. Four to one? Really? Are you seriously too much of a pussy to take me on yourself? Or are you not as stupid as you look and realize that you can't beat me on your own?"

Kumori let go of Sesshomaru and glared at him. His other friends started to advance towards Naraku but Kumori stopped them. "Don't touch him," he ordered. "He's mine."

"Man, shut the fuck up." Naraku passed by him like he was nothing and put an arm around Sesshomaru. "I better not catch any of you near him again. If I do there will be hell to pay."

Kumori looked like he was about to tackle Naraku but he kept still. His friends followed suit. Sesshomaru kept his gaze on the ground while he and Naraku walked away. The black-haired teen gave all of them one last chilling glare before they left.

"Are you okay?" Naraku asked. They were behind the building where Sesshomaru's next class was. They were already late so there were no other students around.

Sesshomaru nodded and kept his head down. He was ashamed and embarrassed and grateful. He was too incapable of defending himself and had to have somebody else do it for him. But if Naraku hadn't come…things would have turned out a lot worse. Sesshomaru would have been ashamed and embarrassed and beaten up instead. It was so strange to have someone sticking up for him. He was amazed at how those kids didn't even try to beat Naraku up. Naraku had so much venom in his voice, it would've scared Sesshomaru had it been directed at him.

_He was angry…because they were going to hurt me._

Naraku gently grabbed his chin and tilted his head up so the smaller boy would look at him. "Are you sure? They didn't hurt you?"

"No, I'm fine. Thanks, Naraku. No one's ever…that's never happened before."

"Don't worry. I won't let anyone hurt you anymore. Fuck all these people. You and I will handle them." He still had that confidence.

"How'd you know to come? Your class is on the other side of the school."

"…One of the freshmen in my pe class told me. He said he walked by and saw some guys messing with you."

"Really?"

"Yeah. He recognized you from hanging out with me." Naraku looked at how upset Sesshomaru was. "Do you wanna skip class?"

"No, I've ditched a lot lately. I'll start getting in trouble."

"Tsk, tsk. How naughty of you." He saw Sesshomaru smile a bit. "…It'll be okay."

Naraku put his arms around him and held him close. Sesshomaru buried his face in the other teen's neck. They stayed like that for a long time, Sesshomaru didn't want to let go. He wanted the comfort that Naraku was giving him, he had gone so long without it. Part of him said not to trust Naraku, that he would toss Sesshomaru away once he was bored with him. The majority of him though needed what Naraku was giving him and ignored the negative thoughts. He needed someone to hold him, to defend him, to be his friend. Perhaps he did trust the black-haired boy too easily but because of him Sesshomaru was already happier.

Everybody stayed away from Naraku and Sesshomaru for the next week. Kumori had warned them that Naraku was very protective over the smaller boy and he wouldn't hesitate to fuck up anyone who touched him. No one wanted to get into a fight with Naraku because they knew that unlike Sesshomaru, Naraku would make a huge deal about it and probably end up getting everyone expelled. They would still talk about Sesshomaru and stare him down when he was alone but they didn't confront him. They left him alone.

For now.


	3. Chapter 3

WARNING (this story will contain the following): homosexual relationships, sex scenes, major OOCness, AU (modern times), fluff, uke Sesshomaru, bullying, author is a complete sap…did I mention _major_ OOCness?

Still looking for staff members for my community! Come on, it's easy. :D

* * *

Chapter Three

Sesshomaru couldn't believe how much his life had changed in such a short amount of time. He wasn't getting beat up, people didn't make fun of him to his face…and he had someone to talk to. He had a friend. Sure they both got glares from a lot of people but that didn't bother them. As long as nothing more serious happened then they could deal with the looks.

It was Friday afternoon and both teens were out of school. They were going to Naraku's house for a while and then going to the movies with his little sister. Her name was Kagura and she was only in junior high. She and Naraku were three years apart but they were still close.

"What time are we leaving?" Sesshomaru asked. They were just walking onto Naraku's street.

"Mm, about five I think," Naraku answered. "Hey, can you work on the history timelines tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, you can come over again. Two okay with you?"

"Yup."

"I got a new video game yesterday but haven't been able to play it yet."

"What game?"

"Call of Duty."

Sesshomaru smirked. "With Nazi Zombies?"

"Hell yeah."

"We're playing as soon as we get to your place." Sesshomaru might not have liked bloody horror movies but he was all for kicking some Nazi zombie ass. It was different when it was a video game.

…

"Oh my fucking god. Come on, revive me!" Naraku said. He had just been killed by a zombie that was behind him.

"Hold on," Sesshomaru told him. "I gotta kill the fuckers around you." He shot his ray gun at them then stood next to Naraku and revived him.

"We should get upstairs now."

"Alright."

Sesshomaru's character ran to the stairs which were blocked off and used his points to get rid of the stuff. They both ran upstairs into the corner to start blasting those mother fucking zombies. They eventually died at level twenty-eight.

"Haha, not bad for the first time," Naraku laughed. He stood up and stretched. "You thirsty?"

"Yeah."

They both left Naraku's room and went downstairs. Sesshomaru got a water bottle and Naraku grabbed a soda. They talked and while they did Sesshomaru noticed that he himself was starting to open up more. Conversation was still difficult for him but it was becoming easier around the other teen. Naraku was even able to get him to laugh, something he thought he had forgotten how to do.

"Wow, it's only four," Naraku stated as he looked over at the clock. "Guess that game went quicker than I thought."

"Yeah, I know. I thought it was later," Sesshomaru said. They walked into the living room and something caught his eyes. He picked one up and Naraku smirked.

"Oh, so you like big swords, eh?" Naraku asked playfully.

"The bigger the better," Sesshomaru replied.

"Figure you'd think that, you fag."

"Haha, shut up. You're as big a flamer as I am." Sesshomaru pointed the foam sword at Naraku. "Now perish."

Naraku leapt up and grabbed the other toy weapon on the ground. He swung and hit Sesshomaru in the side of the head.

"Hey, you asshole," the boy laughed. He blocked the next attack and aimed at Naraku. After a few minutes he knocked the sword out of the larger teen's hand.

"Ack, nooo! Oh, well. I need no weapon to defeat you, peasant!" he shouted.

"Peasant? Bitch, please. I'm your lord!" He started running though when Naraku chased after him.

Then Naraku caught up to him and tackled him onto the couch. "Who's the lord now?"

Sesshomaru found himself laughing. Naraku was half on him and half hanging off the arm of the couch.

"Haha, I win."

"I let you," Sesshomaru lied.

"Liar!"

Sesshomaru tried pushing him off but he didn't budge.

"I won't get off until you admit that you lost."

"Never." He tried shoving him off but was unsuccessful. "Fuuuck."

"Give up?"

"I can stay here all day if I have to. You'll tire eventually."

"Don't count on it. I'm patient like a spider."

A few minutes passed. Sesshomaru discovered that he wasn't like a spider, Naraku was though.

"I lost, you won," Sesshomaru mumbled quickly.

"What was that? Speak up." There was a mocking smirk on his face.

Sesshomaru exhaled loudly. "I lost. You are the winner. You beat me."

Naraku finally got up then held out his hand for Sesshomaru to take. The smaller boy took it and was hauled up.

"You're an ass, you know that?" There was no anger in Sesshomaru's voice though.

"Oh, I'm well aware of that, doll."

Sesshomaru walked by him and 'accidentally' hit him. "Oh. Sorry, hun."

"Aw, you're so mean."

"A regular ice prick."

"Haha, hardly."

They decided to go back to Naraku's room and hang out. An hour later there was a knock on his door.

"Come in," Naraku yelled. He and Sesshomaru were currently engaged in a game of speed.

"Hey, guys," Kagura greeted as she came in and closed the door behind her.

"Hey," they both said back. Sesshomaru had already met her before.

She lied on her brother's bed and watched their game. They each had one card left. They flipped the next cards over and then Sesshomaru slammed his card down.

"Damn it!" Naraku said as he threw his card at the pile.

"Boom! Beat your ass!" Sesshomaru laughed.

"Whatever."

"Say it."

"Say what?"

"Say it."

"I lost. You are the winner." He couldn't help but smile.

"Yeah, that's right."

They then looked over at Kagura.

"Are you guys done flirting and ready to go?" she asked.

Sesshomaru blushed but Naraku answered in the affirmative.

Sesshomaru enjoyed his time with the two siblings. They were fun to be around and neither treated him like a freak. It was almost 11:30 by the time they were out of the movies. They had decided earlier to go to the mall and catch a late show. Sesshomaru sent a text his mom to see if she could pick him up.

'Oh,' she replied. 'Your dad and I got invited to some small party tonight.'

'So late? I don't have my key with me.'

'Yeah, you know how Katherine likes to do things spur of the moment. You're with your friend, right? Ask if you can spend the night.'

Sesshomaru felt uncomfortable asking something like that but he had nowhere else to go.

"What'd your mom say?" Naraku asked.

"She can't because she and my dad are going to a party. They probably won't be back until late."

"They just leave you alone at night?" Kagura asked with a frown.

"Yeah, I mean, I'm used to it."

"Well, that sucks," Naraku said. "Do you want to spend the night? It'll be better than being there alone."

"Er, you don't mind? Would your parents?"

"Don't worry, they won't care. And of course I don't mind. We're friends, I want you around."

Sesshomaru felt a sudden burst of happiness flutter through him. 'I want you around.' Someone actually said those words to him and without sarcasm.

"Alright then. Thanks."

"Good. Let me call my mom to pick us all up."

Her name was Sora and engaged Sesshomaru in conversation. He now knew where Naraku got that talkativeness from. She was friendly and not a fake kind of friendly either. She was just a genuinely nice person.

Once at Naraku's house the three teens spent some time downstairs before Kagura announced she was going to bed. The two boys went upstairs a short while after that. Sesshomaru sat on Naraku's full size bed while the other teen rummaged through his drawer.

"You want to borrow something to sleep in?" Naraku asked. "Jeans aren't really the most comfortable." He handed Sesshomaru some pajama pants.

"Yeah, thanks," Sesshomaru said. He was surprised when Naraku grabbed a pair for himself then shed his jeans.

Naraku had no problem dropping his pants in front of friends. He was comfortable with his body and didn't care who saw him. Sesshomaru on the other hand was freaked out by the idea. He was ashamed of himself and thought he was ugly.

Luckily for him though Naraku was thirsty and went downstairs to get a drink. As soon as the door closed he quickly took off his pants and put on Naraku's. _Where am I sleeping?_ He figured the floor.

A few moments later Naraku walked back in. "Hey, do you want to sleep on the bed too?" he asked. "The floor isn't comfortable and up here is big enough for both of us."

"Um, sure." _He doesn't care to have me in his bed?_

"Alright. I'm not really tired yet. Up for another round of Nazi zombies?"

"Of course."

They ended up playing three more before calling it quits. Sesshomaru yawned. He was tired but a little hesitant about going to bed.

Naraku sat down and pulled the blankets down. "You coming?" he asked. "I promise I don't kick or bite."

"I can't guarantee the same thing."

"Well, I think I'll be okay as long as you don't kick me in the balls."

Sesshomaru smiled. "Heh, we'll see." He then lied down. It was cold so he pulled the covers over himself.

Naraku did the same after turning off the light then turned on his side to face the other boy. Sesshomaru was on his back and only turned his head to look at him.

"What are you looking at, punk?" Sesshomaru asked playfully.

"A big ass." Naraku laughed when he frowned. "You've come out of your shell a lot."

"Oh…yeah. You talk so damn much, it's hard not to respond." He smirked.

Naraku lightly pushed him but he was amused. "Oh, whatever. You like that I talk so damn much."

Sesshomaru couldn't deny that. "Yeah, what of it?"

"So you do? Hm, what else do you like about me?"

Sesshomaru stayed silent.

"Aw, so mean to me."

"You deserve it sometimes."

"Haha, I probably do." Naraku studied him for a moment before a question popped into his mind. He wasn't one to hold back what he was thinking so he just asked. "Did you have a boyfriend before you moved here?"

Sesshomaru was caught completely off guard by that. He shifted onto his side so he was fully facing his friend. "Uh…well, yeah. Why?"

"I was just wondering. You don't talk much about Boston."

"I don't like to…"

"Why?"

"Because it only reminds me more of how miserable I've been since I moved here." Sesshomaru couldn't look at Naraku anymore. He was embarrassed and ashamed.

Naraku frowned. He then lifted his hand and brushed the backs of his knuckles along Sesshomaru's cheek. This brought the boy's gaze back to him.

"It's not so bad anymore," Sesshomaru admitted. "You…you've made things better for me."

"I'm glad. I don't want you to be upset." He moved his hand to grasp his friend's. He felt Sesshomaru's fingers curl around his own. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For making you upset."

"Don't apologize for anything. You weren't the one to make fun of me or hit me. You've made me…happier. As lame as that probably sounds. There's nothing for you to be sorry over." His eyes looked down to their entwined hands. They stayed silent for a few moments.

"I'm glad we're friends, Sesshomaru. Good night."

"Good night, Naraku."

He tightened his hold a little then watched as the golden-eyed boy closed his eyes. In a few minutes he was asleep and then Naraku decided to drift off too.

…

Sesshomaru grunted when he was woken up. His eyes took a few moments to adjust since it was still black outside. He looked down and saw the reason he was now up. Naraku's arm was resting on his stomach after just smacking him there. He looked over and saw that his friend was still asleep though. He pushed the arm off and closed his eyes. He grunted once more though when Naraku slammed into his stomach again.

"Naraku," he said.

Nothing.

"Naraku," he repeated louder.

"Mm?" the teen groaned.

"Get your arm off me."

Nothing again.

Sesshomaru smacked him. "Wake up."

"Alright, alright." Naraku's eyes opened and he looked at Sesshomaru. The boy pointed down and he saw what the problem was. "Oh, sorry."

"You lied."

"What? Oh. Haha, no, I didn't. I said no kicking or biting. There was nothing in there about arm flailing."

"Ass…"

"Oh, come on. You like it when my arm's around you."

"Not when it's there from hitting me."

"So if I put it there gently you wouldn't mind?"

Sesshomaru blushed but it was too dark for the other male to notice. That hadn't been what he meant. "Shut up." Then he turned on his side away from Naraku.

Naraku just smirked and patted Sesshomaru's shoulder before going back to sleep.

…

It was nine in the morning when Sesshomaru woke up. He never slept in that late. Naraku was still asleep though. He decided to just lie in bed until his friend woke up. He didn't have to wait too long.

Naraku yawned and stretched before opening his eyes. It took him a moment to remember that he wasn't alone and then he looked over at his friend. "Morning," he said with a sleepy smile.

"Good morning." He sat up. "Hey, eh, I kinda want to take a shower."

"Oh. The towels are in the closet across from the bathroom."

"Alright. Thanks." Sesshomaru stood up and left the room. He always took a shower as soon as he woke up in the morning.

…

"You still wanna work on the timelines this afternoon?" Naraku asked.

"Mhm. You do too, right?" Sesshomaru asked.

"Yeah. I'll see you in a while then."

"Okay, bye."

"Bye."

Naraku hugged Sesshomaru and then the boy left. He'd be back in a few hours though since they had planned to work on their history project today.

"So how was it at Naraku's?" Kimi asked her son during the drive home.

"Fine," he answered.

"Just fine?"

"Uh, fun? I liked hanging with him. How was that, eh, party?"

"Boring."

"Heh, I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Your dad and I should have known better. Do you have to go back to his house?"

"Later on, yeah. We're gonna work on a project."

"That one for history, right?"

"Mhm. We have to figure out how to put the timelines together. Like we can't just have them on a piece of paper with a line connecting them. Well, we can but we won't get a good grade for creativity."

"Do you have any ideas?"

"A couple but I don't really like them. They'll be last resort."

"I'm sure you'll think of something. You always were the creative one in the family."

…

"I got it," Sesshomaru said.

"What is it?" Naraku asked.

They were sitting in Naraku's living room trying to think of ideas for their project. It still wasn't due for a couple of weeks but they wanted to get it finished with early.

"It'll be the two buildings. The first, fourth, and fifth timelines on the list will be on one since those are all related and the second, third, and sixth will be on the other. But then we still have to show how the other specific events are related…fuck, give me a piece of paper. I'll draw it out."

"Alright, good idea." Naraku was trying to follow but it was a bit confusing. He handed Sesshomaru paper and a pencil.

He drew his idea out and then it clicked. "You see what I'm saying now?"

"Mhm. We can just put the events in the windows and use different colored flames to show each specific event in relation to the others. Oh, dude, we can make this look so bad ass."

"Hell yeah."

They figured what supplies they would need for it then went and bought what they didn't already have at Naraku's house.

They decided to finish up for the day when both towers were built. They hadn't attached them to the base or anything yet but that would be simple enough. When they were done Sesshomaru called his mom to see if she could pick him up.

"I can get you in an hour," she told him.

"Oh, er, I'll just walk back then," he said.

"No, just wait for me. It's already dark out and everything."

"Fine."

"See you in a bit."

"Bye."

"What'd she say?" Naraku asked him.

"She'll be here in an hour," Sesshomaru said.

"Alright. What do you wanna do til then?"

"I kind of just want to just watch a movie."

"We won't have time to finish unless you tell your mom to come later."

"If you want then I'll text her." He did so and told her to come in a couple hours instead. They chose what to watch then settled on the couch.

"You hungry?" Naraku asked.

"Nope."

"Eh, I'll be right back." He came back with chips.

"Can I have one?"

"I thought you weren't hungry."

"Just one."

"Fine. Open your mouth." Once Sesshomaru did he fed him a chip.

An hour later Naraku noticed Sesshomaru yawning. He wasn't bored or anything, just tired. Naraku smirked then stretched out on the couch. Sesshomaru looked over. Naraku opened his arms invitingly.

"Care to lay down?" he asked with a smirk. "It's awfully comfy." He saw the boy's hesitation and patted the spot next to him.

Sesshomaru decided to lay down with him. He crawled over so that he was partially on top of the other teen then rested his head underneath his chin. He smiled when strong arms wrapped around him.

They focused again on the movie but within ten minutes Sesshomaru felt himself beginning to doze off. Naraku saw him trying to stay awake. He thought about it for a second before lifting his hand and brushing it through Sesshomaru's hair. When Naraku's fingers started lightly scratching his scalp Sesshomaru knew he lost the battle against sleep. The boy closed his eyes and enjoyed what Naraku was doing to him. In a couple of minutes he drifted off.

…

"Sesshomaru, Sesshomaru."

He attempted to ignore the voice that was trying to bring him back to consciousness. Sesshomaru was warm and comfortable and he didn't want it to end. That damn voice kept insisting though.

"Sesshomaru, wake up."

"What?" he finally grumbled.

"Your mom keeps calling," Naraku told him.

Sesshomaru's eyes snapped open and he reached into his pocket. "Where's my phone?"

Naraku handed it to him. "I took it just to see who was calling."

He opened it and saw two missed calls. He called his mom back.

"Hey, I'm here," she said annoyed.

"Sorry, be out in a second," he told her then hung up.

He sat up and put his shoes on then looked at his friend.

"Bye, Sesshomaru."

"See you later."

Naraku hugged him for a few moments then let him go. Sesshomaru smiled then rushed out the door.

…

A couple weeks passed by and nothing unordinary happened. No one confronted Naraku and Sesshomaru directly yet. Sesshomaru was happy about that until he and Naraku talked on the phone one night.

"I'm not going to school tomorrow," Naraku told his friend.

"Why not?" Sesshomaru asked. "Is it because you were sick at school?"

"Yeah, it got worse when I came home."

"Oh…" Fear suddenly bloomed in Sesshomaru. He'd be alone tomorrow. Without Naraku the other students would gang up on him. _They'll beat me until I can't move._

"Will you be okay? I can try to go."

"No, I'll be fine. You need to rest."

"Alright then."

"If you want, I can go over after school…you know, to take care of you…" He sheepishly whispered the last part.

"Really? You don't care that you might get sick?"

"No. I rarely get sick anyways."

"If you want to then yeah. I'd like that. Call me when you're here."

"See you tomorrow then. I'll let you go now. You're probably tired."

"Alright. Bye, Sesshomaru."

"Bye."

After they hung up Sesshomaru lied down on his bed and stared at the ceiling. He was trying to rid himself of the panic and fear he felt. The only reason people didn't bother him anymore was because of Naraku. Without him there they would beat him up for sure.

_But maybe they won't._

Maybe they would leave him alone because of what Naraku would do to them when he found out. They knew the black-haired teen would learn if anything happened to Sesshomaru and then he would raise hell. Sesshomaru only hoped that that would be enough to prevent them from doing anything.

…

In English people noticed that Sesshomaru was alone. They held back though thinking the absent teen might be coming to school late. By fifth period though it was obvious that he wasn't. Sesshomaru sat down in physics and became nervous when a couple people sat next to him.

"Where's your friend?" Shuran asked while smirking.

"Maybe he finally got tired of him," Toran snickered.

"Fuck you guys," Sesshomaru growled feeling brave for a moment.

"Ooh, Naraku's made him feisty."

"Too bad Sesshomaru's little boyfriend wasted so much time with this freak. I actually liked him."

"Shut up!" Sesshomaru shouted. "Don't you guys have anything better to do?" He stood up just as the teacher started walking towards all of them. Because of that, the two bullies didn't stop him.

"What's going on here?" she asked as Sesshomaru walked past her.

"Nothing," the boy mumbled. He went to the opposite side and sat down in front.

"Behave, you two," she said to the other teens.

As soon as the bell rang for class to be over Sesshomaru darted out of there. He was trying to go to the front gate to leave campus but never made it. Koga and a group of his friends stopped the boy.

"There's no one to protect you now," Koga snarled at him.

Sesshomaru tried to run but he didn't get far. Koga tackled him to the ground.

"Where do you think you're going? Time to show you your place."

Sesshomaru stared with wide-eyes. It was happening, he wasn't strong enough to defend himself.

"Naraku will kill you when he comes back," everyone suddenly heard.

Standing a few yards away was a young teenager with green eyes and black hair.

"Who the fuck are you?" Koga asked.

"Ah-Un. I know Naraku. If he finds a hair out of place on him then all of us know what will happen. Even if he isn't here today he'll still put you through hell tomorrow."

Koga looked down at Sesshomaru again. He sneered and backhanded him but got off. "You're real fucking lucky."

Sesshomaru sat up and watched as they walked off. He stood and noticed that Ah-Un was still there. "Er, thanks," he told him. "I would've gotten my ass kicked." He wiped at his lip since it was bleeding.

"No problem. I had to do something to help."

"You know Naraku?"

"Sort of. We have pe together."

"…You're that freshman that told him a while back that I was about to get beat up."

"Mhm. I see you guys together and hear people talk. I've never really talked to him though. Didn't think he'd want to talk to a freshman."

"Nah, Naraku's not like that. As long as you're not a prick then he's a good guy. Well, thanks again…maybe I'll see you around."

"Hey…actually, do you want to come with me and my friends?"

Sesshomaru froze. "…What?"

"You wanna come with me? Just to hang out."

"Um, sure." He couldn't believe what was going on. First some kid he didn't even know rescued him from a beating then he was invited to actually hang out with him. _Is this a trick…?_

Ah-Un led Sesshomaru to the upper side of the campus. He didn't go up there often since he didn't really have any classes in that area. A group of freshmen and sophomores were sitting at a couple tables and that was where they stopped.

"Hey, guys," the green-eyed teen announced. They all said hi but were wondering what this other kid was doing there. "This is Sesshomaru. Don't worry, he's cool."

Some of the younger teens said hi to him too but a few glared. They all knew who he was from the upperclassmen. Sesshomaru was the school outcast. They allowed him to sit down though next to Ah-Un.

Sesshomaru was nervous. He wasn't used to being around so many people outside of class.

"So what brings you here?" some boy asked Sesshomaru curiously.

"Ah-Un asked if I wanted to come," Sesshomaru told him.

"How do you know him?"

"He knows my friend, Naraku."

"Oh, cool. I'm Jaken by the way."

Jaken then saw the band on Sesshomaru's t-shirt. Pretty soon they had struck up a conversation about music.

By the time the bell rang to go to class Sesshomaru was shocked that people had actually talked to him. He was also surprised that he knew how to talk back. He said bye to Ah-Un and the others then went to history.

…

"I'm coming up your street now," Sesshomaru said into the phone.

"Alright," Naraku told him. "I'm the only one home so just walk right in. The door's unlocked."

"Okay, see you in a few minutes."

When he got there he went in and walked up to Naraku's room. The teen was lying on his bed with his back to the door.

"Hey, Naraku," Sesshomaru said.

He turned onto his back to look at his friend. "Hi."

"How you feeling?"

"Getting better."

"Do you need anything?"

"Juice would be nice. That's it."

"Okay. Be right back."

He gave the glass to Naraku when he came back and sat next to him on the bed.

"How was your day?" Naraku asked hoping nobody tried to fuck with Sesshomaru.

"It was…good."

He raised an eyebrow. "Why'd you hesitate? Did someone try to hurt you?"

"Well, no…I'm not beat up, am I?"

"Your lip is cut. Tell me what happened."

"At lunch…Koga and his friends came."

"That mother fucker! I swear I'll kill him."

"H-he didn't really do anything. Some…some freshman came and helped me. Ah-Un his name was." Sesshomaru told him what the younger teen had said and did.

"That's great, Sesshomaru."

"Yeah. I was surprised."

"Guess not everyone at that school is an asshole. What's up with your lip though?"

"Koga slapped me before he left. But it's not that bad, he was about to do a lot more."

"Yes, it is bad. Whenever he lays a hand on you, it's bad. He'll pay."

"Don't even bother thinking about him right now. You're supposed to be relaxing, not getting angry."

"Heh, fine. Care to relax with me? Come on, lay down."

Sesshomaru took off his shoes and stretched out on the bed. "Why is your room so cold?"

"You're always cold. You can get under the blanket if you want."

Naraku threw part of it over him but complained a minute later. "Your jeans radiate coldness. Did you put them in the freezer?"

"I'll get out…"

"No, don't." A mischievous smile appeared on Naraku's face. "I have a better idea…"

Sesshomaru was about to ask what it was but his eyes widened in alarm. "W-what are you doing?" He felt hands start to unbutton his jeans.

"I'm just getting rid of the problem. I like you being here but not your cold pants. Seems only logical what I'm doing."

He put one of his hands on Naraku's. "N-no." He couldn't take any of his clothes off, he couldn't let Naraku see his ugly body.

Naraku frowned. "What's wrong? I understand if you don't want me to but something seems wrong."

"I…I'm ugly. Don't look at my ugly body."

Naraku blinked. "Sesshomaru, you are the furthest thing from ugly. God, don't listen to those kids who pick on you. You're so beautiful. I thought so the first time I saw you."

_I'm beautiful?_ "You don't mean that. I'd rather you be honest with me than nice."

"I swear it's the truth. You're fucking beautiful, Sesshomaru. Inside and out." He wrapped his arms around the boy despite how cold he still felt. His sickness was being replaced with anger, anger for all the people who made fun of his friend and gave him such low self-esteem.

"Promise you won't laugh at me…?"

"I promise." Naraku then started unbuttoning his jeans again and this time Sesshomaru didn't protest. He pulled them down and Sesshomaru kicked them off all the way. He was still nervous that the other teen would find him repulsive despite what he had said.

The black-haired teen wrapped his arms around the other and Sesshomaru did the same. "You're beautiful," Naraku whispered. He tightened his grip a little then closed his eyes.

Sesshomaru's own eyes slid shut as he snuggled closer and soon they both fell asleep.

…

When Naraku woke up he felt almost back to normal. He looked down at the boy in his arms and hoped he hadn't gotten him sick. Sesshomaru was still asleep. He checked the time and saw that a couple hours had passed.

"Mm, Naraku?"

"Yeah?" he asked the white-haired boy.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I feel a lot better actually."

"Good."

"Do you feel alright? I don't want you to get sick from me."

"I'm fine. I don't get sick, remember?"

"You say that now until you're throwing up all over the place." He chuckled when he felt a light smack to his chest.

"Oh…I brought you the work from class. I should probably get started on it so I'm not up all night." However he made no attempt to even move.

"Yes, I can tell you're gonna get to it."

"Well, it's cold out there. I like being where it's warm."

"Mm, that stuff can wait a little longer."

Sesshomaru was just about to agree when he heard his phone ring. "Son of a cunt…" He got out of the blankets and went over to his jeans to grab his phone. He sat back down on the bed and answered. After a few seconds he hung up.

"Who was that?"

"Wrong number. Stupid bitch made me get up for nothing." As soon as he was about to pull the blankets over his bare legs, Naraku's door opened. His eyes widened when his friend's mom came in. He immediately hid himself and blushed.

"Oh, sorry, Sesshomaru. I didn't realize I should knock," she said with her voice as cheerful as always.

That only caused him to blush more.

"What's up, mom?" Naraku asked.

"Just wanted to check up on you."

"I'm feeling better."

"Okay, good. I'll leave you two alone then." She turned to leave but said one more thing. "Sesshomaru, do you want to stay for dinner?"

"Um, yeah," he said quietly.

She smiled. "Alright, now I'm gone." The door closed behind her.

Sesshomaru pouted at his friend but glared a moment later when he started laughing.

"Sorry," Naraku chuckled. "I shouldn't be laughing. Alright, I'm done."

"…Well, that was embarrassing," Sesshomaru sighed. He got up and put his pants on. "Guess I'll start the work now."

Naraku got up too. "Yeah, can you hand me my backpack?"

Soon they got to work. By the time Naraku's mom called them down for dinner, they were done with most of it.

Sesshomaru went home around eight. He kept thinking about everything that happened that day. He wondered if he and Ah-Un would talk again or if that was just a one-time thing. And then with Naraku…he was surprised that he let his dark haired friend do that. He was even more surprised at what Naraku had said. He still thought of himself as ugly but he couldn't deny how good it felt when Naraku told him he was beautiful.

…

The next day, Sesshomaru was meeting Naraku to leave campus for lunch. During fifth the bigger teen had to leave to see his counselor to clear a mistake with his credits. He was walking near the wall then suddenly was shoved into it. "What the fuck?" he growled and looked around. One person looked back and glared at him. They were walking away with a couple of others. Sesshomaru just dusted himself off and kept walking. When he met up with Naraku he didn't tell him what happened. Naraku would hunt the person down and probably get in trouble over a simple shove.

Over the next few days two things started happening. Naraku and Ah-Un talked more in class, and Naraku and Sesshomaru got more physically close with each other. Naraku became bolder since Sesshomaru didn't protest. On Friday Naraku came to Sesshomaru during fifth period with something to tell him.

"Do you want to stay on campus today at lunch?" he asked.

"What?" Sesshomaru said confused. "Why?"

"Ah-Un wants us to hang out with him and his friends."

"Really? Both of us?"

"Mhm. I've been talking to him a lot this week. Do you want to?"

"Uh…sure."

Sesshomaru was surprised and ecstatic at the same time. People actually wanted his company. Ah-Un and the others from Tuesday were happy to see them. They were welcomed by most of the group. Some guy named Kohaku was currently talking to them.

"So how long have you guys been going out?" he asked the older teens.

Sesshomaru's cheeks burned and he felt the arm around his waist tighten a little. "Well, eh…we're kinda just friends right now," he mumbled.

"Oh, really? My bad."

Sesshomaru thought about that. No, they weren't going out. The idea never even crossed his mind. He and Naraku had a very close friendship and were often close physically but that didn't mean they were a couple. Naraku would probably never want to be anyways. Sesshomaru was just relieved Naraku hadn't immediately denied it like the idea repulsed him.

…

Sesshomaru went over to Naraku's house that evening. He was spending the night there. The next day Naraku and his family were making a two-hour drive to the beach and Sesshomaru was coming too.

It was already dark out and Sesshomaru, Naraku, and his siblings were playing tag outside. Kagura was it and had just finished counting. Everyone else was hiding in different spots. Sesshomaru was on the side of someone's house. He tried to blend in the shadows since he was wearing a black shirt and dark jeans but he knew his white hair wasn't helping. Kagura passed by a parked truck and as soon as she did Naraku leapt out of the truck bed and ran towards base. It was an electrical box more commonly known as 'the green box.' He tagged it before Kagura could even catch up. She walked away in the direction of the house Sesshomaru was hiding at. At the opposite side of the street Byakuya and Kanna emerged. They too reached base without getting caught.

Now only two people were left. Sesshomaru and Hakudoshi. Hakudoshi was hiding on the same end as Sesshomaru but he was behind a car. Kagura spotted the younger one first and took off. Sesshomaru also started running. She heard him and decided to go for him instead. Sesshomaru knew Kagura was right behind him. He had to run through grass and that was when Kagura launched herself at him. He toppled over but she managed to keep her balance.

"Haha, you're it," she laughed.

"Yeah, yeah." He stood up and walked to the box. "You guys better hurry. You got thirty seconds."

He closed his eyes then counted. After he finished he quickly dropped to the ground to look under cars and spotted someone's legs. They were Byakuya's but he managed to escape being tagged. Hakudoshi also made it to the box. Soon it was down to just Naraku and Sesshomaru. Naraku had climbed in a tree and hopped down when Sesshomaru came towards him. Both teens were running as fast as they could. Naraku's siblings were cheering for the other teen so their brother flipped them off. He was almost at base but Sesshomaru caught up to him. Sesshomaru smacked him on the back moments before Naraku smacked the box.

"Fuck, man…" Naraku mumbled as he tried to rub his back.

Sesshomaru smiled. "You're it."

Naraku's dad came out though and made Kanna and Hakudoshi go inside. The older kids were still allowed to be out.

"Well, that ruined the game," Byakuya said.

"Gross…I'm all sweaty now," Sesshomaru complained.

"Wanna wash off in the pool?" Naraku asked.

"We're not allowed down there at this time," Byakuya said.

"Heh, I know. One of you go sneak in the house and get the key. Last time I tried I got caught."

"I'll get it," Kagura offered. "Be back in a minute." She came back a few minutes later and then they headed down the street to the pool.

"Don't get your clothes wet," Naraku ordered everyone. "It'll be suspicious if we go home all soaked."

He and Byakuya started stripping down. Kagura had went inside and changed so she was too to the shorts and tank she had on underneath. Sesshomaru became nervous. He took off his belt, shoes, and socks but that was all. He couldn't bare his body to them. He may have taken his pants off around Naraku but this was completely different.

Naraku saw his hesitation and instantly felt bad. He had forgotten for a moment about how self-conscious his friend was. He would be the exception to the wet clothes rule. He ran up to Sesshomaru and pushed him into the water. Then he dove in after him.

Sesshomaru came sputtering up, mad yet grateful at the same time. "You asshole," he muttered. His friend just gave him a big grin.

A while later Byakuya got out to check his phone. "Guys, it's almost ten. Dad will come out to get us soon, we better head back."

"Fuck, alright. Hurry up," Naraku ordered.

The three siblings got dressed while Sesshomaru stood there and shivered. As they were walking Naraku looked over at him.

"Here," he told his friend as he started taking off his own shirt. He handed it to Sesshomaru and the younger boy took it eagerly.

He quickly shed his soaked shirt when no one was looking and put Naraku's on. It got a little wet from his hair but it was a big improvement.

"When we get home we'll go in first to tell you and Naraku when to sneak in," Kagura told Sesshomaru.

He nodded. "Okay."

They eventually made it and went inside without getting caught. Sesshomaru took a shower before changing into a different shirt and pajama pants. Naraku took one after him then joined Sesshomaru in bed. He lay on his side and pulled his friend close to him by the waist. Sesshomaru relaxed into his embrace and rested his head underneath Naraku's chin.

"Sorry for earlier," Naraku apologized.

"Why?"

"I forgot that you would be uncomfortable taking your clothes off in front of us all."

"It's okay…and it was just your siblings I was uncomfortable with…"

"Just them?"

"I…yeah. With you, I-I trust you. If I show myself to you, you won't make fun of me, right?"

"Of course I won't."

"I want to not be afraid. I don't want to be scared of just taking my shirt off." He sat up. While looking down he started taking both his shirt and pants off. Soon he was down to only his boxers. He still wasn't looking at Naraku.

He sat up also and tilted Sesshomaru's face to look at him. "You're beautiful."

Sesshomaru felt that same feeling go through him. The one when Naraku first told him this. One arm wrapped around him while the other went down to his leg. Naraku rubbed his hand along Sesshomaru's outer upper thigh.

"I'm proud of you for opening up and being brave," Naraku told him. He kissed Sesshomaru's cheek and the other boy's eyes widened in surprise. "Now…wanna hear about an awkward conversation I had with my mom?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, the other day when you were over and my mom saw you in your boxers? Well, after you left she asked me to not have sex with my boyfriend right before she comes home."

"…What the fuck?" Sesshomaru's heart started beating faster for a reason unknown to him.

"Yeah. I told her that we don't have sex and she asked why you were half-naked."

"I wasn't half-naked…"

"I told her that and then told her why. It didn't help our case."

"She doesn't care if you do have it though?"

"No. She knows I'm not a virgin. My dad too."

"You aren't?"

"I never told you?"

Sesshomaru shook his head.

"Oh. Yeah, I lost that when I was fourteen. Middle of my freshmen year."

"That seems kind of young."

"It was. I sorta wish it never happened. We ended up breaking up a week later because he was a horrible boyfriend."

Sesshomaru was a little surprised and he didn't know why. He figured it wasn't all that shocking. Naraku probably had an easy time getting boyfriends because of his looks and personality.

"Hehe, and now I have a sexy, nearly nude boy sitting in my lap."

"Shut up, slut."

That made Naraku laugh. "Haha, a total whore."

Sesshomaru started reaching for his pants and shirt to put back on. He felt good because Naraku didn't call him ugly or look at him disgustedly or do anything mean. He even called him beautiful again. Once he was dressed he lay back down and then Naraku wrapped his arms around him.


	4. Chapter 4

WARNING (this story will contain the following): homosexual relationships, sex scenes, major OOCness, AU (modern times), fluff, uke Sesshomaru, bullying, author is a complete sap…did I mention _major_ OOCness?

* * *

Chapter Four

Naraku's mom went into her son's room the next morning to wake the teens up. They were leaving early since the drive would take a couple hours. She saw them snuggled up to one another. _Yeah, Naraku. You two so aren't going out._

"Naraku, Sesshomaru," she said. "Time to wake up."

Sesshomaru hid his face in Naraku's chest while the crimson-eyed teen groaned. Neither wanted to get up, it was way too early.

"Come on. We'll leave you here if you don't get ready."

Naraku blinked then his eyes widened. He looked at his mom then at the boy latched onto him.

"Why'd you lie and say he wasn't your boyfriend?" Sora asked.

"I wasn't lying," he told her. "We're just friends."

"Mhm. Anyways, get ready."

"Alright." He waited until his mom left to shake Sesshomaru awake. If he realized that she had seen the two cuddling, he would've been really embarrassed.

"Ugh, okay. I'm awake," Sesshomaru mumbled.

"Get dressed."

"Yeah, yeah. I am."

Sesshomaru stood up and grabbed his swim trunks and a new shirt. The only reason they were going to the beach was because the weather was going to be abnormally hot for the next few days. As soon as both boys were done, they went downstairs.

The two youngest siblings were already downstairs along with Sora. Naraku's dad was out putting things in the car.

"Hakudoshi," she said. "Go give this to your dad." She handed the eleven year old a bag.

"We'll leave in a few minutes," she told the others as Kagura walked into the room. "Now we're just waiting for Byakuya."

Soon he came and they left. Since there was so many of them they had to cram into Naraku's dad Takeo's SUV.

"Are we there yet?" Naraku asked thirty minutes into the drive.

"No," Sora told him. "Don't start up. You're the oldest yet act worse than the little ones."

"But Sesshomaru and I are bored back here!"

"Play a game."

"We don't have any games."

"Use your imagination."

Naraku loudly sighed but turned to his friend and smiled. "Play pat-a-cake with me."

"Seriously?" Sesshomaru asked.

"Mhm."

"Um…okay."

He and Naraku started playing then the black-haired teen started singing.

"Miss Lucy had some leeches, her leeches like to suck. And when they drank up all her blood, she didn't give a… Funny when the doctors had locked her in her cell. Miss Lucy screamed all night that they should go to bloody… Hello to the-"

"Naraku," his father interrupted. "What the hell is that?"

"Miss Lucy Had Some Leeches!" He and Sesshomaru never stopped clapping. "Hello to the surgeon with scalpel old and blunt. He'll tie you to the table then he'll mutilate your… Come, it's nearly teatime."

"Stop singing that song!"

Byakuya, Kagura, and Sesshomaru were laughing. The younger kids weren't because they didn't understand it.

"Ugh, fine." A few minutes later he started with a new song. "I will swallow! If it will help my sea-"

"No more singing."

"Aw, damn…are we there yet?" He smiled as the others laughed again.

"Well…that killed ten minutes," Kagura said.

"Ack, that's it?"

Eventually they made it to the beach. They settled down where there wasn't a lot of people. Naraku and Sesshomaru almost instantly headed for the water.

"Be careful!" Naraku's mom warned them.

The other kids didn't go in yet because they thought it was too cold still. They stayed on shore throwing a Frisbee around.

"I'm surprised you came out here," Naraku said. "Usually you're the first one to be cold."

"I love water though," Sesshomaru told him. "I'm sure I'll be freezing my ass off soon enough."

They stepped into the water and saw a wave coming. When it was a little closer they jumped into it. It threw them back and Sesshomaru lost his balance. It took him under and he tumbled onto the sand.

"Haha, fuck dude," Naraku laughed. "That one really tossed you."

They stayed in the water until they were called back. The others were playing a game of soccer now and wanted them to join too.

Sesshomaru had a lot of fun that day. Later on that night it would overwhelm him to think about how much his life had changed since meeting Naraku. He and his whole family had welcomed him and made him feel like a real person. He wasn't some ugly, repulsive, disgusting freak. He was only Sesshomaru.

…

A few weeks passed. Sesshomaru was happy. He could smile and mean it now. He and Naraku still went off campus often but they hung out with Ah-Un and the other underclassmen sometimes too.

It was after school one Friday and the pair was going to a party in the evening. It was just something Ah-Un was throwing at his house and he invited the two older boys.

They took the bus there but weren't sure what was happening after that. Each had lied to their parents saying they were spending the night at the other teen's house. They planned on staying late and getting drunk which were two things their parents wouldn't approve of.

When they arrived, a bunch of people were already there. Sesshomaru had been nervous to go since he didn't like large crowds but Naraku convinced him. He promised they would stay together.

A couple hours passed and they were still sober. Ah-Un's sister was bringing them booze but hadn't come yet. One of Ah-Un's friends suggested that they play spin the bottle.

"Haha, fuck," Naraku laughed. "You guys are such little kids." However both he and Sesshomaru joined the rather large circle.

"Alright, anything goes. Doesn't matter who it lands on," Ah-Un announced.

After six people went, Naraku made his own announcement. "If we're gonna play this then make it interesting. New rule, the two people kissing have to stay together for at least five seconds. Agreed?"

"Agreed," everyone said.

Soon it was Sesshomaru's turn. He was scared that whoever it landed on would reject him but he spun anyways. They watched as it slowly stopped. His eyes widened.

"Ooh, Naraku and Sesshomaru!" someone said. "Should be hot."

Naraku turned to Sesshomaru and winked. "Come here, sexeh!" Then he pounced on the smaller male.

Sesshomaru saw Naraku smile at him then he closed his eyes. His pulse was racing. Suddenly Naraku's lips were on his own. He didn't react for the first few seconds but then nervously did. It had been so long since he kissed anybody, he was sure Naraku would think he was horrible at it. The group counted to five but the two didn't separate yet. Naraku put one of his hands in Sesshomaru's soft white hair. It wasn't until everyone counted to ten that they pulled away. Naraku stared into Sesshomaru's slightly widened eyes then grinned.

"You're pretty good," Naraku told him.

"T-thanks…you too."

"Haha, I know."

Sesshomaru smiled. "Ass."

Soon after, Ah-Un's sister came with the alcohol. Sesshomaru couldn't stop thinking about that kiss though. He was somewhat unsure of what to make of it. It wasn't bad and if he were going to do it with someone then of course he'd want it to be with Naraku. And then Naraku didn't pull away when time was up. He kept going and Sesshomaru had to admit he liked that. He enjoyed the whole thing and didn't realize that he was hoping the bottle would land on him when it was the black-haired teen's turn.

Naraku and Sesshomaru ended up crashing at Ah-Un's that night along with a few other people. They didn't go to sleep until the morning and then had to get up a few hours later. Luckily their parents never caught them. It wasn't until a couple days later that their kiss was mentioned. Sesshomaru had thought about it a lot but assumed that Naraku didn't. That made him feel bad because he couldn't deny that he wanted to feel Naraku like that again.

"Something wrong?" Naraku asked. They were alone at Sesshomaru's house after school. Naraku was sitting in a chair and Sesshomaru was lying on his bed.

"No," Sesshomaru told him. "It's just…did you…" He couldn't finish. He was too embarrassed.

"Did I what?"

"Nothing."

"You're lying. Come on, tell me."

"It's nothing, really."

"Aw, tell me. Please?"

He sighed loudly. "Well, on Friday…at Ah-Un's…"

Naraku smirked inwardly. Now he knew what he was trying to say. He thought it was cute how Sesshomaru was embarrassed. "You mean when we made out?"

He nodded.

"I rather enjoyed it." What he didn't say was that he'd like to do it again. "Did you?"

"Yeah, I did." Sesshomaru had a bit more confidence in his voice now that Naraku liked it too.

"What was your question about it?"

"You already answered it."

Naraku climbed up next to Sesshomaru on the bed. "Is that really all?"

"Yeah."

"Why do I think you're lying?"

"That's something you have to ask yourself."

"Oh, I know why. It's because you _are_ lying." He grinned. "I see right through you. So…what is it?"

"You really do pester, you know that?" He didn't mean it though.

"So I've been told." He put his hands on either side of Sesshomaru and leaned directly above him.

"W-what are you doing?"

"If I tell you something, do you promise not to freak out?"

"Yeah, I promise."

"When we kissed on Friday, I wouldn't mind doing that again."

It took a moment for Sesshomaru to process what he said. "I…I wouldn't mind either."

Naraku smiled and without another word leaned down to capture the other boy's lips. Sesshomaru quickly responded. This time Naraku brushed his tongue against his bottom lip. The younger boy wrapped his arms around the other's neck as he opened his mouth to allow him entrance. Naraku explored him thoroughly. Only when they finally ran out of breath did they break apart. Sesshomaru panted slightly while Naraku stared into his eyes. Then he cupped his face with one hand before kissing him again.

Sesshomaru was speechless after they pulled away for the second time. Naraku lied next to him, his arms around his body.

"Was I so bad that you don't even have anything to say?" Naraku joked.

Sesshomaru smiled. "No, I'm just trying to get air in my lungs since you stole it all."

They stayed holding each other for what seemed like a long time. Eventually Naraku had to go back home, leaving Sesshomaru to think about what had happened.

…

That wasn't the last time they kissed. The two would do it in secret at school, in the privacy of their houses, as a goodbye along with the usual hug. Within a few days it had become normal for the two friends. It was just one more way that they were close.

Saturday morning approached. Sesshomaru and his family were going to visit Izayoi again. Naraku was coming too. The white-haired boy was somewhat nervous. He wondered what he would think of his family, mainly Inuyasha. Hopefully Naraku and his cousin wouldn't get into a fight. There would probably be a few other people there too, Izayoi's friends. It was eleven when Touga drove to Naraku's to pick the other teen up. Sesshomaru texted him that they were outside and the teen came out. He greeted Sesshomaru's parents then he and the boy started talking.

Once there, Naraku was introduced to everybody and Sesshomaru greeted them all. Izayoi told him that Inuyasha was in his room so the two teens went up to see him…even if Sesshomaru didn't want to. What she hadn't mentioned was that Inuyasha's immature friends were also there.

"Hi," Inuyasha said. His friends mumbled hellos too.

"Hi, guys," Sesshomaru said back. He would be civil as long as they were. "This is Naraku."

Inuyasha looked at the dark teen before nodding to an empty spot on the floor where they were all sitting. "You guys can sit there."

Kagome, Sango, Miroku, and Shippo all stared as they did. Once on the floor, Naraku had no problems with hooking his arms around Sesshomaru's waist and bringing him close. Kagome and Shippo looked at them with disgust.

"What the hell are you staring at?" Naraku asked Kagome and Shippo.

"Are you guys going out?" the girl questioned as if the words poisoned her tongue.

"If we are? I don't believe that's any of your business."

"Well, do you guys have to be so…close?"

"I don't see the problem. That girl is sitting on his lap and that seems to be okay." He was referring to Sango and Miroku.

"That's different. They're normal." Naraku could feel Sesshomaru tense up at the last sentence. He was about to viciously retort but was interrupted.

"Kagome, calm the fuck down," Inuyasha ordered. "Who cares if they're going out?"

"But they're both guys."

"Chill, it doesn't matter."

Kagome glared at the pair.

"Hey, fuck you," Naraku spat. "I'm gay, deal with it."

Sesshomaru was silent. He was honestly surprised that his cousin was sticking up for them and not siding with Kagome. Maybe he wasn't as bad as he always thought. Inuyasha knew he was gay, had known since he came out to his family, but they never talked about it. There was no need for it to be brought up. He had always assumed Inuyasha didn't like it.

"We're not putting up with this. Another word outta _her_ and we're leaving," Naraku said to Inuyasha.

"Kagome," the young teen bit out. "Don't say anything else."

"I'll say whatever the hell I want, especially to a couple of freaks."

Naraku and Sesshomaru both stood up at that. The wavy-haired teen wanted to bitch her out until she cried but he stopped himself. He instead left with Sesshomaru by his side. They went outside avoiding the adults and the questions that would have been asked. They walked until they were at the end of the street.

Sesshomaru was silently putting himself down. Freak. That was what he was. A fucking freak. That bitch was right. _Freak._ And that was all he ever would be. He was not normal, he was nothing but a freak. His eyes filled with tears without him realizing it, he was too far gone in his self-loathing.

"Don't cry, Sessh. That chick is a fucking idiot," Naraku's soft voice told him.

_Freak._ The same word that had been beaten into him for so long. _Freak_. The only word that correctly described him.

"Sesshomaru…"

The tears fell. He couldn't stop them. Naraku grabbed him and led him to sit down. Sesshomaru bawled into his neck.

Naraku understood. He understood how Kagome's words affected him. His friend had been made fun of his entire high school life. He wasn't surprised that a few sentences set him off. He only hoped he would be able to cheer Sesshomaru up this time.

"Shh, Sesshomaru. Shhh, it's okay. Don't cry, you're not a freak." He continued whispering in his ear until the tears stopped flowing. Sesshomaru's body still shook as he tried to control himself.

"Naraku…"

"You're not a freak, Sesshomaru. You're as normal as anybody else. Don't listen to that cunt. She's ignorant. There's nothing wrong with you…say it. Say it."

"S-say what?"

"I am not a freak."

"But…"

"Say it. Say the truth."

"I-I am not a…a freak."

"Say the truth again."

"I am not a freak." He looked up into Naraku's crimson eyes.

"That's damn right."

Sesshomaru was grateful for Naraku. If it weren't for him, he wasn't sure where he'd be.

"Come on," Naraku said. "Wanna take a walk?"

"Yeah," Sesshomaru mumbled.

As they stood up Naraku saw Inuyasha come outside. He spotted the older teens and started jogging towards them.

"Your cousin's coming."

"Is he alone?" Sesshomaru asked.

"Yeah."

He turned to look at Inuyasha once he was close by.

"Er, Sesshomaru," Inuyasha started. "Look, Kagome is…she's…okay, she's a bitch. I know we haven't always gotten along but what she said was fucked. Sorry you had to listen to that. Both of you." He noticed Sesshomaru's red eyes. Now he felt worse knowing his cousin had been crying.

"Thanks, Inuyasha…I think Naraku and I are just gonna walk around."

"I told her to go home. She's leaving as soon as her mom picks her up. You can stay."

"Will anyone else cause trouble?" Naraku asked. "She wasn't the only one gawking at us."

"I told Shippo to be cool or he would leave too. Sango and Miroku are fine with you two."

Naraku faced Sesshomaru. "Do you wanna stay? We can still go if you want."

"We don't have to stay here," Inuyasha spoke up. "All of us can go to the movies or something."

"Alright," Sesshomaru told them. "I'll go back once that bitch is gone." He sat back down on the curb.

"Okay. I have to go back in, I left them in my room. She should be gone soon."

Five minutes later a car pulled up in front of Inuyasha's house and Kagome walked out. She looked over at the two boys. Naraku made sure to hold up both his middle fingers for her to see. She glared then got in the car and left.

"She's gone," Naraku told his friend. "Wanna go in now?"

Sesshomaru nodded. They went back inside and Inuyasha's friends didn't cause any more problems. Soon the group was leaving to get something to eat then to see a movie. Sesshomaru appreciated what his cousin was doing. He wasn't being his usual jerk offish self, he was actually being nice.

As the group of six walked, Sesshomaru didn't feel so much like a freak. Those miserable, horrendous feelings tried to crawl back into his mind but were unsuccessful. Naraku held his hand most of the time. That gesture let Sesshomaru know that he wasn't the freak most people said he was. At least, he wasn't one to the teen with crimson eyes. This person standing beside him didn't think of him as a freak. No, to Naraku he was the opposite. And for Sesshomaru that was enough. If he had nothing else, he had Naraku. He had someone who cared about him, someone he cared for. He had someone who called him a friend, someone he could call a friend back.

And for Sesshomaru that was enough.

…

"Your cousin thought we were going out that whole time," Naraku said. They were lying on a blanket in the park. It wasn't too cold so they decided to spend time outside.

"Yeah, I know," Sesshomaru told him. "Probably because of how close we were."

"That and the fact we didn't deny it."

Sesshomaru sat up to look at him. "You could have said something if you wanted to."

"I know. You could've too."

"Yeah, I know."

"I didn't want to. Let them think what they want."

"Do we act like a couple?"

"Mm…yeah. People seem to always think that. Just the way we come off."

"Plus all the hugging, touching, and kissing…"

Naraku smirked. "Yeah, that too. That doesn't bother you, does it?"

"No. Does it bother you?"

"Nope."

"So if we really did go out, do you think we'd act any different from how we do now?"

"I don't think so. It'd probably be the same mostly. We just wouldn't tell people they were wrong in assuming we were a couple. Of course, we've already begun doing that."

"So basically, we're going out then."

Naraku chuckled. "I suppose we are."

"I like that idea."

He smiled. "I do too."

…

A couple weeks later, the pair was in Naraku's room. Music was blasting through the speakers that were set up but they weren't paying attention to that. Instead Naraku was on top of Sesshomaru on the bed, pinning the younger teen's hands above his head as they heavily made out.

As they had become more comfortable with it over the weeks, these sessions would get more and more intense. If someone saw them right now then they'd probably think they were getting ready to have sex.

And that was exactly what Kagura thought when she walked into the bedroom. She saw her brother lying in between Sesshomaru's legs, holding his hands still, and practically making love to his mouth. The two boys didn't notice her since the music drowned out the sound of the door opening.

"Um…hey!" she shouted. She then watched as they stopped and Naraku turned the volume down with a small remote. "You guys are about to have sex yet you're not going out? Really?"

Naraku turned his head to face her but didn't move besides that. "We were not about to have sex and we are indeed going out."

"Oh, what? When did this happen?"

"A while ago. Now what do you want?" His annoyance at being interrupted was clear.

She smirked. "Oh, nothing. Just wanted to say hi!" She laughed then left.

Naraku scowled but then looked back down at Sesshomaru.

"Well," the white-haired boy muttered. "She has bad timing."

"At least she's gone now." Then Naraku swooped back down and crashed their lips together.

…

"So you and Naraku seem to be even closer than usual lately," Kimi casually said to her son one morning. She and Sesshomaru were downstairs just watching tv.

"Yeah, I guess so," he murmured, knowing where this was going.

"You guys going out? I know you've denied it before but maybe you were just lying."

"I do not 'just lie.' Naraku and I weren't going out when you asked."

"Well, are you guys dating now?"

"...Yeah." He didn't like talking about these kinds of things with his parents.

"For how long?"

"I don't know, a few weeks now."

"Sesshomaru…"

"What?"

"You know, if you guys are then that means eventually you might have-"

"I'm not having this conversation. Just stop right now."

"I'm only doing it for your safety."

"Well, don't. I'll be fine. We don't even talk about things like that."

"Not yet."

"Mom, stop," he whined.

She decided not to say anything else about it. She or Touga would have that talk with him later on in his relationship.

…

More time passed. Rumors had spread all around school confirming that Naraku and Sesshomaru were a couple. The two teens didn't give a fuck about what people said. More students would make atrocious comments to them or sneer at them though. It happened more than usual. Sesshomaru had to convince his friend not to attack every person that was mean to them. The amount was too high and Naraku would end up getting suspended.

They continued on as well as they could. Sesshomaru was still happy with his new boyfriend, the kids at school didn't bother him as much. They hung out with Ah-Un and the other underclassmen more too. All of them knew about the rumors and what not but they didn't listen. They liked the two juniors and knew them better than all the assholes did, the gossipers could fuck off.

"Someone's getting his license today," Naraku sang. He and Sesshomaru were walking home one Friday after school. He was seventeen now and met all the requirements to get a drivers license.

"Heh, _if_ you pass the test," Sesshomaru said.

"Psh, I'll pass it easily. I've been practicing with my dad and I'm fucking great. Technically I'm not supposed to drive any minors around without an adult until I'm eighteen…but I'll come pick you up tonight."

"You better not end up failing. I'll laugh at you."

"Haha, I know you will. When are you getting yours?"

The younger male shrugged. "I don't even have my permit yet."

"Well, hurry up."

"Eh, for what? I can always have you drive me around."

Naraku smirked. "Pfft. Yeah, we'll see."

Later on that evening Sesshomaru got a text saying 'go outside.' He walked out and saw his friend parked in the driveway. He made his way over and got in the passenger seat.

"Looks like you don't get to laugh at me," Naraku told him. "I passed."

"I'll just find something else to laugh about," Sesshomaru said with a smirk.

…

The next Tuesday at school Sesshomaru, Naraku, and the rest of the math class slowly took their notebooks out. Another boring day of pre-calculus.

"We're having a guest here today," the teacher announced. Everyone's mood immediately brightened. "Someone from a different school that most of you probably haven't heard about. I'll let her take it away."

What that guest was there for was to advertise the high school she worked at. It was an alternative to regular school and the plus was that students took college classes along with high school ones. It was on the campus of the community college in town. The more the lady spoke, the more it sounded better to Sesshomaru. Student population at the high school was small, the kids would generally care about their educations too, and he would be able to get an early start on college. He just hoped Naraku liked the idea as well. During the last few minutes of class, the woman handed out a paper with different times on it.

"These are the dates and times for the informational meeting you and your parents need to attend if you're interested," she explained. "You need only to go to one. You'll be able to ask more questions and so will your parents."

Sesshomaru saw that there was one in a couple days. He'd tell his parents about this tonight. "What do you think about it?" he asked his friend once the woman left.

"We should apply. Seriously," Naraku answered. Students who wanted to go had to send applications, go to an interview, and then they would get a letter home in April informing whether or not they got in.

"Yeah, I really want to check it out further. It sounds way better than this hellhole."

"Wouldn't it be great to leave all these asshole kids behind?"

Sesshomaru smiled and nodded. "Wait, we shouldn't get all excited yet. We don't even know for sure if we want to apply."

"Eh, true. I hope our parents will be for this."

"Me too."

…

Sesshomaru and his parents went out to dinner that night. It was there that he told them about the new school.

"This sounds great," Kimi said.

"Mhm," Touga agreed. "So you leave your current school for good?"

"Yeah. Then I take classes at the high school and college. They're on the same campus."

"Well, we need to find out more information but so far we like it. We'll go to the meeting on Thursday, alright?"

Sesshomaru nodded.

"Does Naraku want to go?" his mom asked.

"Yes."

"They're best friends, I imagine they'd go together," Touga said.

Sesshomaru blushed slightly. Apparently his mom hadn't told him…

"Oh, they're more than friends now," Kimi chirped.

"What?"

"Yeah, Sesshomaru and Naraku are going out."

"Since when?"

"Weeks now."

"Why didn't he tell me?"

"Why are you guys talking like I'm not here?" Sesshomaru growled.

"Hehe, sorry," his dad apologized. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I don't know…I thought mom would."

"Kimi, have you talked to him about safe-"

"He won't let me," she interrupted. "I tried."

"Stop asking about that! Naraku and I aren't even considering doing that." He pouted. His parents could be so damn annoying sometimes.

…

On Thursday night both Sesshomaru and Naraku were headed to their school along with their parents. A lot of people had already arrived so they had to sit together near the back. Many other questions were answered by the new school's staff and they were able to go into more detail. Both sets of parents were sold on it and wanted their sons to go. They picked up the necessary forms and left once it was over.

Sesshomaru really hoped he and Naraku would get accepted. Neither one would leave without the other. Sesshomaru desperately wanted to escape his current school. Even with how much things had changed he still couldn't take another year, couldn't graduate with all the people who teased and hit him. He just couldn't. Wanted to leave? No, he had to.

…

Sesshomaru and Naraku waited. They sent in their applications, went to the interviews, and now the only thing left was the letter. It was late April, it would be arriving any day now.

Touga had gone to check the mail like everyday. Sesshomaru and Kimi were downstairs. She already knew her son would get in, Naraku would too. That school was looking for people who cared about their education and it was obvious that the pair did. They both took honors and AP classes and got nothing lower than B's.

"Letter for Sesshomaru," Touga announced when he walked back inside.

Sesshomaru grabbed it and quickly opened it. He read the first couple lines and smiled.

"Hell yeah!" he grinned then tossed the letter onto the couch.

His parents were very happy for him. He grabbed his phone to call his boyfriend but it vibrated before he had the chance.

"Hey," he answered.

"I got accepted!" Naraku nearly shouted.

"I did too!"

"This is awesome. Man, fuck the school we're at."

Sesshomaru laughed and agreed. He was leaving. He was finally leaving that damn school with those damn people who tortured him for so long. It almost didn't feel real.

…

The last week of school finally arrived. It was the first week of June and the only thing left were finals. It was Tuesday so that meant they had periods two and three that day. English and math. Tomorrow was art for Sesshomaru, p.e for Naraku and then history for both. Sesshomaru's last day would only be physics, Naraku would have health afterwards. and then they were done. No more hell. To celebrate they were going to a party Thursday night. Sesshomaru would be extremely wary his last three days though. Most people knew that he and Naraku were leaving. They would probably do one last horrible thing to him. He and Naraku were expecting it. Naraku didn't plan to let Sesshomaru out of his sight.

Tuesday passed without much problem. On Wednesday Sesshomaru got out of art a few minutes early so he headed over to history. No one else was really out since the bell hadn't rang yet. Soon he felt eyes staring at him. He didn't turn around but the person didn't like that. They came up to Sesshomaru and shoved him to the ground. When he looked up he saw Koga's smirking face staring back at him.

"I heard you're leaving, Sesshy," he mocked. "Now why you doing that?"

The boy didn't answer. Instead he tried to stand but Koga just kicked him back down.

"I don't want you going," he continued. "Who's gonna be my bitch for senior year? Bad Sesshy. I'm gonna teach you a lesson for this." He dropped next to the golden-eyed boy and yanked his head back by the hair. He was about to punch him in the nose but was stopped by pain that suddenly went through his stomach. It took him a moment to realize that Sesshomaru kicked him.

Sesshomaru jumped up at the opportunity to escape. He was soon being tackled to the ground though. Koga had recovered and immediately attacked Sesshomaru by bringing him down again. The bully was furious. He forced Sesshomaru to flip over then hit him in the jaw at the same time he kneed him in the balls.

"Koga!"

Both teens froze. A teacher was running over. Someone had seen, someone had witnessed Sesshomaru getting smacked around.

"Get off him!" the teacher yelled.

Sesshomaru didn't know who the man was. Once Koga was off, he slowly stood up.

"Are you okay?" the older male asked him.

He nodded even though it hurt where he had just gotten hit. The teacher took them both to the office so the principal could deal with them. Sesshomaru was nervous, he didn't want to get in trouble. What if the principal thought he was fighting? Would he get suspended for today and tomorrow and miss his finals? What if…what if this messed up him going to the new school?

That couldn't happen, he couldn't stay here. He had to leave.

"Sesshomaru," he heard. The principal was calling him. "Come here. Koga, you stay."

The boy followed the man to his office and he closed the door.

"Sit down," the principal offered.

Sesshomaru did and just waited. He tried not to let his worry show.

"Well…what happened?" he asked the teen.

Sesshomaru explained what Koga did then looked down.

"And you did nothing to him?"

"I-I kicked him. When he pulled my head back on the ground, I kicked him in the stomach to get him off me…"

"Why did Koga hit you in the first place?"

"He and I have never gotten along."

"Has he done something like this to you before?"

He stayed silent. This was his chance to tell someone about the torture he had to endure. But he couldn't. The principal wouldn't believe him and Koga would get revenge on him.

"Sesshomaru."

"No…this was the first time."

The man sighed. "Alright. I'll call Koga in here." He wasn't going to bother questioning the other teen separately. He knew Koga had beaten this boy up. Koga had a bad record and Sesshomaru was a quiet boy who had never caused trouble before.

Once he called Koga in, he suspended the teen for the couple days school was still in session. He was going to get in more trouble once school started back up after summer. The black-haired teen was sent out to the office to wait for someone to pick him back up. The principal focused on Sesshomaru again.

"You're not getting in trouble, Sesshomaru. Koga has been in here many times, you on the other hand don't cause any trouble. Now do you want me to excuse you from your sixth or do you want to go?"

"I'll just go to class."

"Okay." He scribbled something on a piece of paper. "Here's a note for your teacher then. If there are any more problems then come see me, alright?"

Sesshomaru stood up and took the paper. "Okay. Thank you."

He left and went to history. His phone was in his pocket so he checked it. Naraku had sent a couple texts asking where he was. He was probably worried. Sesshomaru walked a little faster. When he went inside, the entire class stared up at him but he didn't look at them. He just went over to his teacher and handed him the note.

"Alright," the adult said. "Here's the test, Sesshomaru. Just put it on the front table when you're done."

He then went and took his seat behind Naraku. "I'll tell you after," he whispered to his boyfriend.

…

Sesshomaru told Naraku the story while they were walking to the teen's car. The younger boy had to calm him down, Naraku wanted to find Koga and beat the fucker until he couldn't move.

"Naraku, no. He left anyways. We won't see him again. He's suspended and then we're gone from here."

"That asshole needs to go die," Naraku growled.

"Yeah…I know."

* * *

To anyone who recognized "Miss Lucy Had Some Leeches" and the beginning of "Swallow" near the start of the chapter: I love you, fellow plague rat! It's so rare to find other EA fans!


	5. Chapter 5

WARNING (this story will contain the following): homosexual relationships, sex scenes, major OOCness, AU (modern times), fluff, uke Sesshomaru, bullying, author is a complete sap…did I mention _major_ OOCness?

Thanks for reading and reviewing. You make this nerdy college student happy. ^_^

* * *

Chapter Five

"Sesshomaru," Naraku whined.

"What?" he asked.

"Let's go swimming."

"Right now?"

"Yes."

"Ugh, fine."

Both teens went to Naraku's room since that was where their trunks to change into were. It was late at night but no adults were home, just the kids. They would tell Byakuya to watch everyone since he was the oldest after Naraku.

Sesshomaru stripped off his t-shirt and pants while Naraku did the same. Before the younger one had a chance to put anything over his boxers though, Naraku pushed him onto the bed. Sesshomaru groaned lightly as their bare skin made contact. The black-haired teen kissed him and the other boy barely noticed his own legs spreading so Naraku could fit better. He moved his lips down to Sesshomaru's neck and delighted in the way the boy tilted his head to expose more of his skin. Naraku kissed and nibbled on him then wanted to move on to Sesshomaru's chest. He stopped himself though. He didn't want to make Sesshomaru anxious or anything. If the smaller teen wanted more then he would have to initiate it so Naraku wouldn't be taking things too far.

Sesshomaru could feel himself becoming aroused. While a part of him was embarrassed at the thought of having an erection in front of Naraku, another part wanted his boyfriend to see. He wasn't sure why, all he knew was that he was getting harder with each lick and suck to his neck. Naraku's lips met his again but soon were trailing off to nibble at his ear. Sesshomaru moaned softly, he was enjoying this a lot.

"Naraku…" He arched into the teen above him, wanting to feel that mouth on other parts of his body. He was unsure how to express that though without feeling embarrassed.

Naraku noticed him squirming. "What is it?" he asked. The response he got was Sesshomaru pressing his chest against him again. He moved down to his neck. "Tell me what you want." Then he sucked at the white-haired boy's pulse point.

Sesshomaru was embarrassed to say it so he let out a sort of whine and tried to move a little higher on the bed.

Naraku understood but he wanted to hear the boy say it. "Mm, come on. Tell me, Sessh."

"L-lower."

Naraku listened and wrapped his skilled mouth around Sesshomaru's nipple. He traced his tongue around it a few times before sucking. Sesshomaru's eyes closed and he put a hand in Naraku's hair. He was surprised at how pleasurable this felt. It gave him a full hard-on. Naraku knew he had one because it was pressing against his body. He was pleased that Sesshomaru was enjoying this. He brought one of his hands to the boy's neglected nub, pinching and rolling it between his fingers. Sesshomaru moaned. Apparently the boy was very sensitive here.

"You like this?" Naraku huskily asked.

"Yeesss," Sesshomaru drawled out.

Naraku's eyes darted down and looked at his boyfriend's tented boxers. "Yeah, I can tell."

A light blush spread across the younger boy's face.

"Now, we have a couple of options. We can do what we originally planned and go out to the pool. Or we can stay here in bed. If we stay here then you can go shower if you want…" A smirk crept onto his face.

Sesshomaru glared at him…but stood up and grabbed an extra change of clothes. He was aware that he was still visibly aroused. "Go check if anyone's in the hallway. I'll be back, I'm gonna go take a shower…"

Naraku winked at him then made sure it was clear for Sesshomaru. He watched the smaller male walk out of the room and couldn't help but think about what Sesshomaru was going to do in the shower.

…

Summer was slowly creeping by. Eventually Sesshomaru's birthday was approaching. At the end of July he would be turning seventeen. Naraku wanted to do something big for him but Sesshomaru kept insisting not to. The dark-haired teen would've thrown him a surprise party but he didn't like large crowds.

Naraku was on the computer one day when suddenly it came to him. He quickly checked what he needed to and was happy when his idea would work. Sesshomaru's favorite band was playing a couple days after his birthday in the next town over. It was an all ages show at a smaller venue. There would be a lot of people there but Sesshomaru would be willing to subject himself to the crowd if he got to see the band play. He had never been to a show before. Naraku bought the tickets. He'd have to check with Sesshomaru's parents since they wouldn't be home until really late but he was sure they'd say yes. If not then the couple would just have to sneak out that night. Satisfied with the main part of his gift, he left to go inform his own parents of it.

…

His birthday had arrived. Sesshomaru didn't want to do much, he never did. His parents were taking him out to dinner that night. Naraku was of course coming too. What he didn't know was that Naraku's parents and two of his siblings would also be there. Later in the afternoon, Naraku came over but the younger teen didn't know because he was taking a shower. While he did that, Naraku told Kimi about the show. She thought it was a great present, she just warned him to be careful though and to take care of her son. The teen promised he would then went to his boyfriend's room and occupied himself by drawing silly little pictures.

Sesshomaru walked into his room wearing only a towel. "Oh, fuck!" he exclaimed when he saw his boyfriend sitting on his bed.

Naraku grinned. "Happy birthday!" He then hugged Sesshomaru.

The other teen was smiling. "Thanks. What were you doing?"

"Oh! Don't look yet." He then covered up the picture he was working on.

"Ehh, alright then." He walked over to his closet and pulled an outfit out.

"I plan on taking you out for a few hours."

"What?"

"Don't worry, it'll be fun."

"Okay. When do you want to leave?"

"Anytime before two is fine."

"Alright." Sesshomaru looked at him then his eyes darted to his own towel.

Naraku noticed. "I won't blatantly stare if you want."

Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow before crawling onto the bed. "Maybe I want you to stare."

"Your wish is my command." He then brought the youth to sit in his lap and sucked on his neck. "I wanna do something tonight…if you let me."

"O-oh yeah? And what's that?"

"It's a surprise but you can stop anytime. Here…I'll give you a hint." One of his hands snaked up the towel and rubbed Sesshomaru's inner thigh.

Sesshomaru already knew exactly what he meant. "I'll let you know tonight…is that okay?"

"Of course." Naraku continued rubbing a little longer. "You should get dressed now…I wanna finish your picture anyways."

"Fine." He stood up and took his towel off. "I don't care if you look…"

Sesshomaru kept his head down while he got dressed but saw out of the corner of his eye Naraku looking at him. He finished then went into the bathroom to blow dry his hair. Once he came back, Naraku was finished.

Sesshomaru looked at it for a moment before he realized what it was. "It's a food court. Ahaha, wow."

"Yay, you got it! Haha, you like?"

"Yes, I like. Thanks."

It was food sitting on two sides of the room where a plaintiff and defendant would be. The defendant was a sandwich but the plaintiff… "Who's suing the sandwich?"

"A pickle."

"…A pickle?"

"Yeah. The pickle is angry at the sandwich because it said it couldn't be in it. The pickle is suing because the sandwich is vegetablist."

"What the fuck is vegetablist?"

"Well, pickles are cucumbers and cucumbers are vegetables. It's like racist except with vegetables. So yeah."

"Aren't cucumbers technically fruits though?"

"…Shut up. Not in my world. The jury is a bunch of fruits though."

Literally. Grapes, an apple, a strawberry…and sitting where the judge should have been was…a big slice of cheese.

Sesshomaru stared a little longer before bursting out laughing. "This is what you come up with when you're bored? What the fuck?

"It just proves how creative I am."

"Alright, we'll go with that."

Naraku smiled. "Yeah, that's right. Are you ready now?"

"Mhm, you wanna go?"

"Yeah, let's bounce."

Naraku wouldn't tell Sesshomaru where they were going. He figured it out soon enough though. His boyfriend was taking him to a place that just recently opened up. It was go cart racing. Sesshomaru had mentioned wanting to go a few weeks ago so Naraku thought it'd be fun to try out. Luckily, Byakuya had a friend whose older brother worked there. He would let them in even though they were unaccompanied and underage. Once parked they got out of the car and walked inside the building. The guy who was supposed to let them in greeted them.

"Eyy, Naraku. How's it going?" the man said.

"Good, Toby," Naraku answered. "This is Sesshomaru."

"Ah, the birthday boy." He held his hand out for him to shake. "Happy birthday, Sesshomaru."

He smiled as he took the older male's hand. "Thank you."

"You guys come over here." He led them over to the cash register. "You two are eighteen…right?"

"Pfft, of course," Naraku lied.

"Hehe, that's what I thought. And don't worry, no one will card you since that's my job."

Once Naraku paid for them both, Toby led them outside to where different tracks were.

"Now which one do you wanna race on?"

"That one." Naraku pointed. It was the farthest away but there were a lot of sharp turns plus obstacles to drive around like bales of hay and tires. "Agree?" he asked Sesshomaru.

"Agree," he replied.

"Alright," Toby said. "Just walk on down. Andrea should be over there, she'll hook y'all up."

"Okay. Thanks, Toby," Naraku told him.

"No problem. Have fun guys."

The teens said bye to him then walked down to the track. A woman was there like Toby had said and she explained the rules to them. Crashing into people and similar things weren't allowed but she planned on being easy on them since Toby had asked her to be.

The next race was starting. Sesshomaru and Naraku were driving separate cars. The white-haired boy planned to annihilate his boyfriend in this race. Naraku wouldn't be such an easy opponent though.

…

Naraku had lost every race so far. He had managed to beat everyone except Sesshomaru which meant the younger teen came in first and he in second. They got out of the cars to take a break and get something to drink. As they sat down at a table Sesshomaru smirked.

Naraku glared even though he wasn't really angry. "What?"

"Bitch, you got spanked," Sesshomaru giggled.

"Pfft, whatever."

"Wanna drive in the same car next time?"

"Alright, just don't flip us over."

"Heh, we'll see."

They were going to race one more time, after that they had to leave back to Sesshomaru's. The white-haired male was driving and Naraku was in the passenger's seat. As soon as the light turned green, they sped off. They had started in the last row so there was a lot of catching up to do. Sesshomaru weaved between cars until there were only three people in front of them.

"Move!" Sesshomaru yelled. The car ahead kept cutting him off. "Get out of my way, mother fucker!" He pressed the gas and bumped into them. "Ack, you whore!" He hit them again and they finally moved. Sesshomaru passed them up.

Naraku was sitting there laughing. Seeing Sesshomaru who was normally so quiet act like this was hilarious. It was worse then when the boy lost while playing a video game.

Sesshomaru passed the next car and was in second place. Steadily, he was catching up to the car in first. The person driving also had someone in their passenger seat.

"You better move or I'll run you over!" He hit them from behind somewhat hard.

They moved but when he was next to them, they slammed into the side Naraku was sitting on. Sesshomaru flipped them off but then started laughing. The strangers did the same. This was all in good fun. They kept racing but were tied. On the last lap neither had passed the other still. They were about to overlap last place though. Suddenly Sesshomaru had to veer out of the way as one car turned too quickly and ran into the side. The boy managed to dodge it but then almost crashed himself as the turn approached. He just barely made it around when the people he was tied with came barreling towards him. They had lost control from another car and crashed into Sesshomaru's backside. Since he hadn't steadied himself out yet, it caused him to spin out. He hit the side along with his competition.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," he chanted as other people passed them up.

By the time he and the strangers managed to drive again, six people had finished already. Sesshomaru and Naraku came in seventh, the other two came in eighth. They got out of the cars and shook each other's hands.

"Haha, good race," the girl driving told Sesshomaru.

"For sure," he laughed.

After that, the person who took Andrea's place gave them all a warning. If a person got two warnings then they were kicked off the tracks.

"Haha, oh well," Naraku said. "We're leaving anyways."

"I know. Those jerks. It's not like I spun out on purpose."

"Yeah, you just rear-ended people and cussed them out…no big deal."

"Hehe, I didn't hear any rules against that."

"Man, you're a crazy driver."

"Psh, only when it comes to go cart racing. You've let me drive your car before."

"Yeah, I know. Ironically, you're pretty good on the streets."

…

"I need to take a shower…" Sesshomaru told his boyfriend. They were back at his house. Everyone was going to leave for dinner soon, they were just waiting for the time to be a little later.

"Yeah, I feel dirty from those cars," Naraku said.

They went up and Naraku grabbed two towels from the cupboard.

"Want some company?" he asked the birthday boy.

"You know I do."

After making sure Sesshomaru's parents weren't around, they both went into the bathroom to shower together.

Later they walked into the restaurant and Sesshomaru was surprised. Sitting in the waiting area were Naraku's parents, Kagura, and Byakuya. The two younger teens quickly bound over to Sesshomaru.

"Happy birthday!" they shouted.

"Thanks, guys," he said and grinned.

Sora and Takeo walked over and each hugged him. As the entire group was led to their table, Naraku's mom talked to Sesshomaru.

"How's your day been so far?" she asked.

"It's been really good," Sesshomaru answered. "Naraku took me to that go cart place that just opened up."

"Ahaha, Sesshomaru's a damn maniac!" Naraku added.

They all made it to the table and sat down. As Sesshomaru looked around he knew he loved everyone at that table in some sort of way. And as the evening continued, he realized that they all loved him too. They actually cared about him.

He glanced over at Naraku who was telling a story to everyone. His boyfriend was such a charming person and was great with people. But to his enemies, he was hell itself. He was the complete opposite of Sesshomaru but that was okay. They balanced each other out. Sesshomaru reached his hand under the table to grasp the other teen's. Naraku didn't stop talking but he squeezed the boy's hand.

After they ate dinner, waiters came and sang happy birthday to him. It was embarrassing but they gave him free cake so that made it better. The check was eventually paid for then the group went to Sesshomaru's house.

"Time for someone to open his presents," Kimi announced.

"Ours first!" Byakuya said as he grabbed the gift from the table.

"This is from me and him," Kagura told her friend. "Oh, and he's to blame for the wrapping."

"Haha, really?" the boy laughed as he looked at the package. It was covered in a bunch of newspaper and tape.

"Hey, I couldn't find any wrapping paper," Byakuya said in his defense.

"We never wrap gifts," Kimi said with a smile. "We don't mind leaving it in the bag."

"Haha, I wish someone would've told me that sooner."

Sesshomaru ripped the paper off. It was a video game he had really wanted. "Thanks, guys."

"You're welcome."

Sora handed him something next. "From me and Takeo."

The teen was surprised at what he got. "An iPod?" It was an unexpected present because he didn't think they'd want to spend that much money on him.

"Mhm. You love music so much and didn't have one so we thought it'd be good," Takeo explained.

"It is. You even got my favorite color. Thank you." It was a new purple iPod nano.

Next he got a new DSi along with drawing pencils and pastels from his parents. Last was Naraku. He knew the no wrapping rule therefore he had just left the round container in the bag. Sesshomaru took the top of the round tin off and smiled. He held it up so everyone else could see.

"I remembered you saying you wanted a pocket watch…so there ya go," Naraku said with a grin. He held out an envelope. "Other part of your gift."

Sesshomaru grabbed it and took out the card that was inside. There were a couple of slips in it.

"Read the card before you turn those over…"

Sesshomaru put them down and read everything Naraku had written. He had filled the entire blank side of the card with his neat handwriting. Everyone in the room, but especially Naraku, watched as Sesshomaru's eyes started welling with tears. When he finished reading it, Sesshomaru leaned over and hugged his boyfriend. Neither of them said anything as they held each other.

That card meant a lot to Sesshomaru. Naraku had put so much thought into it even though he didn't particularly like writing things out like that. He had written how much Sesshomaru meant to him, how brave and strong the boy was, and how Naraku would always be there for him.

The silence was broken by Byakuya. "So can we read what it said?"

Sesshomaru grinned and pulled back. His eyes were still watering but the tears didn't fall. "Heh, I think not." He then remembered what was in the card. Flipping over the two slips he saw that they were tickets to go see his favorite band in a few days. His eyes widened and he hugged Naraku again. The conversation between the others picked up again once the boys pulled back.

"Thank you," Sesshomaru said quietly to his boyfriend. "For everything…"

Naraku leaned forward to whisper in the teen's ear. "You're welcome. Remember that you'll get the final part of your gift tonight."

Sesshomaru smiled then his eyes darted around to make sure no one had heard that last sentence.

…

"Hey, we're going out for a bit!" Touga called up to the two boys upstairs. "We're meeting up with Sora and Takeo!"

"Alright," Sesshomaru called back. "Bye!"

Naraku's parents had left an hour ago to take Kagura and Byakuya home. It was late but the adults wanted to go out. That was a good thing though, it would give Naraku and Sesshomaru privacy.

Sesshomaru stripped down to his boxers and Naraku did the same. The birthday boy still hadn't said if he wanted his surprise but he had already made his decision. Yes, he would let Naraku do this. He trusted him and knew he wouldn't get hurt in any way.

Naraku wrapped his arms around the smaller teen and placed a kiss on his lips. It was gentle at first but deepened until they were making out. Naraku eventually pulled away though.

"Do you want your surprise?" he asked.

Sesshomaru looked into his eyes then smiled. "Yes."

He got on top of the slighter male. "You'll love it." He then went to Sesshomaru's chest knowing exactly how to give his boyfriend a hard-on.

Naraku worked the white-haired boy's nipples with his tongue. At the same time he placed his knee between Sesshomaru's legs and rubbed his growing erection. Sesshomaru moaned and soon started moving his hips to create more friction. Suddenly Naraku tore everything away. The other boy groaned in need and bucked his hips.

"Naraku…please."

The older teen placed his hands on the waistband of Sesshomaru's boxers. Slowly he pulled them off and completely exposed the boy. His eyes scanned the gorgeous body laid before him. He put one hand on a naked thigh and was just about to grab Sesshomaru between the legs when he was stopped.

"Hold on," Sesshomaru breathed.

"What's wrong?" Naraku asked worriedly. He didn't want him to become anxious.

"If I'm completely naked…then you're completely naked too."

Naraku smirked then shed the last of his clothing. Sesshomaru looked at him before spreading his legs. The dark teen went back to his original plan. He wrapped a hand around Sesshomaru's hard cock while the other went to caress his thigh.

Sesshomaru moaned and thrust his hips up. Feeling a hand there that wasn't his own was amazing. That hand stroked up and down his erection then tightened its grasp while continuing to pump. He only wish it would move faster.

A few moments later, Naraku leaned down until he was in front of Sesshomaru's dick. He looked up and saw Sesshomaru's half-lidded eyes staring back at him. It was a very sexy image.

His tongue found its way out and licked the head of the white-haired boy's penis. He noticed the teen gasp. "Mm, do you want this? Want me to keep going?"

Their eyes met and Naraku could see no fear or nervousness. "Yes," Sesshomaru told him.

Naraku needed no further prompting. He began taking Sesshomaru into his mouth. It took all of Sesshomaru's willpower to not thrust up into that wonderful wet heat. He'd never felt anything like it before.

Naraku managed to get his entire cock down his throat. He had practice back in Washington, however, this was the first time he was actually looking forward to giving a blowjob. He placed both his hands on the other's hips to prevent any movement. The boy was squirming and was about to buck into his mouth any minute. Slowly he pulled back up and gave the head special attention with his tongue.

"Ah, Naraku…" He wanted more contact though. His boyfriend was teasing him on purpose.

Naraku went down again but pulled back slowly once more.

"Naraku…come _on_," Sesshomaru panted adorably.

He finally decided to give him what he wanted. His lips went along Sesshomaru's rigid length at an increasing speed. Sesshomaru wanted to watch but his eyelids slid shut on their own accord. He moaned loudly when Naraku sucked harder and grabbed his balls. He massaged them then squeezed every few moments.

The only thing on the younger boy's mind now was his greatly anticipated release. With the lips wrapped around him, the tongue pressing against his underside, and the hand rubbing him, his orgasm would hit him in no time. He could feel it approaching, that coil in his belly was tightening. He was making a lot of noise which Naraku loved hearing.

He knew Sesshomaru was close and he was determined to make this a damn good experience. He started humming to stimulate him more and then suddenly Sesshomaru cried out his name. The boy's back arched and his seed spilled down Naraku's throat as the pleasure crashed through him. He swallowed it all. With his cock now softening, Naraku released him from his mouth.

Sesshomaru lay panting with his eyes closed as he enjoyed the aftermath of his intense orgasm. Naraku lied next to him and brushed a few stands of hair out of his face. That was when he finally looked at the crimson-eyed male.

"I think that was one of the best birthday presents I've ever gotten," he told Naraku.

"Oh, I'm glad. I wanted this to be memorable for you…in a good way."

"Haha, yeah, it will be…definitely in a good way."

They snuggled close together, still naked. Sesshomaru closed his eyes, ready to go to bed. Today had been a great day, his best birthday by far. He wanted to cry from how good it felt. Last year he never would have thought his life would be so much better. Now he actually was happy. No longer did he wish that when he went to sleep at night, he wouldn't wake up in the morning. No, that wasn't his desire anymore. Everything good that had happened since the beginning of the year was somehow connected to Naraku. Naraku had made things so much better and Sesshomaru was grateful for that.

"Good night," Sesshomaru told his boyfriend.

"Good night, Sessh," Naraku said.

"Thanks for everything today."

"You're welcome…I'm just glad you had a nice time."

Naraku stroked Sesshomaru's hair and just as he had predicted, the golden-eyed teen fell asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

WARNING (this story will contain the following): homosexual relationships, sex scenes, major OOCness, AU (modern times), fluff, uke Sesshomaru, bullying, author is a complete sap…did I mention _major_ OOCness?

A new chapter should be out later today or tomorrow. Also for those (of legal age) that are interested, I may post an original story on AFFnet soon. I'll let you know if I do. :D

* * *

Chapter Six

The next few days passed by uneventfully. Tonight was the night of the concert Naraku and Sesshomaru were going to. The younger one was very excited. He had never seen his favorite band live but knew they would put on an amazing show.

The two were ready to leave but Kimi and Touga sat them both down to talk. They lectured them on being careful and when Sesshomaru left the room to grab his bag, they told Naraku to watch their son and make sure nothing bad happened to either of them.

"Alright, you guys are ready to go now?" Touga asked once the boy returned.

"Yep," Sesshomaru answered. "Bye, guys."

"Bye, you two. Have fun. Are you still staying at Naraku's tonight?"

"Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow."

The teens got in Naraku's car and left. Sesshomaru blasted music the entire time and had brought extra money for the merchandise table. The singer and drummer duo always did signings after shows and he was determined to get something autographed.

When they arrived at the venue, they sat in line since doors didn't open for another couple hours. The time passed with talking and playing cards since Naraku had brought them. A person next to them wanted to play once they saw the small poker game going on and soon a total of seven people were playing. The line started moving eventually so Naraku quickly put the cards away and everyone walked inside.

"Naraku, go find us a place to stand. I'm gonna go buy stuff at the table," Sesshomaru said.

"Alright," Naraku told him. He then darted in between people and went up to the stage.

It was a small, dark venue with two bars. There were seats up on top but the first floor was all standing. Naraku was one of the first people in and was able to get a spot up front and center. He sat on the stage since there was nothing blocking it from fans. After a few minutes he saw Sesshomaru walking into the main area. He was pulling a shirt he had just bought over the one he was already wearing. After slinging the black messenger bag he had over his shoulder he searched for his boyfriend. His eyes lit up when he discovered the spot Naraku had.

He bound over to Naraku grinning. "This is gonna be so fucking awesome!" Sesshomaru told him. The people playing were his favorite band ever and had been for years. It was only a girl and a guy. The woman was the singer and pianist while the guy was the drummer. Naraku liked them a lot too though not as much as his white-haired boyfriend.

"Hell yeah, it is. Don't they do signings after just about every show?"

"Yes! I already bought stuff for them to sign."

The crowd gathered around the small stage and chatted while waiting for the opening act. Eventually the room went even darker than it had been and the singer walked out. She announced the opening act which was a woman with an acoustic guitar. The woman was kind of boring to both boys but finally the main act was on. The entire crowd clapped and cheered as the punk cabaret duo appeared.

They slayed that show. Both Naraku and Sesshomaru were singing every song as were most of the people around them. Naraku took multiple pictures and videos with the camera he had. It all unfortunately had to come to an end and the band ended with a cover of "Hallelujah." People started filing out after done but most stayed since the band was still on stage doing signings. Since Sesshomaru and Naraku were up front, they hopped up and were able to meet them. Sesshomaru was so excited when he got to take a picture with them and get some stuff autographed. Naraku got a picture too. Both band members hugged Sesshomaru and said bye then the teenagers were off. They walked quickly across the street and to Naraku's car. It was almost one in the morning by now.

"So how was your first show?" Naraku asked, already knowing the answer.

"Fucking incredible. How'd you like it?" Sesshomaru said.

"They really put on an amazing gig. I took a bunch of pictures if you wanna see them."

Sesshomaru reached into the back seat and grabbed the camera out of Naraku's bag. He looked at each one, smiling when he reached the one of himself with his favorite band.

They arrived at Naraku's house about a half hour later and went inside. Sora and Takeo were still awake in their own bedroom. They just wanted to make sure the boys came home all right. They quickly fell asleep once the teens went into their son's bedroom. It seemed like the other kids were sleeping too.

Sesshomaru stripped out of his shirt and pants then slid on a fresh t-shirt to sleep in. It was summer and therefore too hot for pajama pants. Naraku preferred to just sleep in shorts. The younger boy sprawled himself across the bed while he watched his boyfriend change.

"Thank you for tonight," Sesshomaru told him.

Naraku smiled. "I'm glad you had fun." Then he leaned down and kissed the boy.

He returned it enthusiastically. Ever since the drive home he started feeling horny. "Naraku…" he moaned quietly as they pulled away.

The teen smirked. "Yeah?"

"Why don't you lie down with me?"

Naraku crawled next to him. One of his hands snaked up the boy's shirt and he lightly dragged his nails over the soft skin.

"Mm…Naraku…"

"Yes?" He knew what Sesshomaru wanted, he was just playing dumb to tease him.

He pulled his boyfriend's face to his and kissed him eagerly. He moaned his approval into Naraku's mouth when that hand in his shirt moved upwards to play with his nipples. The dark-haired teen broke the kiss and trailed his lips to Sesshomaru's ear.

"You're gonna have to be quiet," he whispered then nibbled on the appendage.

Sesshomaru nodded then bit his lip as Naraku left his shirt to instead feel the boy's hardening dick.

"Ah, what a horny monster I've created in such little time," Naraku chuckled.

He slipped his hand inside Sesshomaru's boxers and grabbed him. He stroked his boyfriend to full hardness then slowed down. He propped his head up on his free hand so he could watch Sesshomaru's face. It was hot to see his eyes closed and him biting his lip to keep from moaning out loud in the silent house.

"Do you like that?" Naraku whispered. He tightened his grip a little as he moved up and down the boy's shaft. "It certainly looks and feels like you do…"

Sesshomaru didn't dare open his mouth unless he wanted everyone in the house to hear him moan. Instead he pushed his hips into Naraku's hand. He started sliding along Sesshomaru's cock faster then shifted so he could start kissing his neck too. The white-haired boy almost immediately tilted his head to give his boyfriend more room. The pleasure shooting through his body was so good. He didn't even care that he was about to shoot off in his boxers and make a mess.

Naraku kept pumping his dick until he sensed the boy's orgasm approaching. When he thought he was close, he stopped stroking Sesshomaru. Golden eyes quickly opened and stared at him but he didn't say anything. His hand just moved a little lower to rub Sesshomaru's balls instead. After the boy calmed down from his pleasure high, Naraku grabbed his cock and pumped again. Sesshomaru arched his back no longer caring why the other stopped a few moments ago. His hands fisted the sheets beneath him as his dick got ready to release once more.

His gaze snapped to Naraku when he stopped his ministrations for a second time. He opened his mouth to speak but didn't talk. Sesshomaru panted instead and started reaching for his own cock. His fingers brushed the waistband of his underwear before his boyfriend grabbed his hand and put it near his white head of hair.

"Just let me do this," Naraku whispered then kissed him. "Okay?"

Sesshomaru nodded and didn't try to get himself off again. Once he wasn't near orgasm anymore, Naraku jerked him off fast. Pleasure consumed his body and his hard member wept for release.

"Ooh, so hard for me," Naraku continued. He watched him writhe on the bed. "I have such a sexy boyfriend." He continued stroking him quickly then slowed down until his hand eventually stopped moving.

Sesshomaru nearly cried out loud from being denied a third time. He tried not to do anything and just waited for Naraku to pleasure him again.

"You'll like this after I'm finished…"

For the final time, Naraku wrapped his fingers tightly around Sesshomaru's erect penis. He stroked up and down fast along the flesh, not letting up this time. Sesshomaru was biting his lip hard now. Waves of intense pleasure shot through him and now the boy understood why his boyfriend had teased him before. He could tell the orgasm he was about to have would be powerful. The coil tightening in his belly was about to snap and with a couple more jerks, Sesshomaru was arching his back as he came.

When he was done, Naraku let go of his softening shaft. He pulled his cum covered hand out and brought it to his mouth. After making sure Sesshomaru was watching, he licked it all off. The smaller boy was surprised when he found it to be sexy.

He rolled over onto his side and buried his face in Naraku's neck, panting. Small shivers ran through his body as he enjoyed the blissful feeling that engulfed him. The older teen wrapped an arm around him and held him for a little bit.

Sesshomaru looked down and could see the tent in Naraku's shorts. He felt bad. Naraku had made him cum twice and he hadn't done the same to Naraku yet. He reached down to take care of his boyfriend's own erection but was surprised when he was stopped. He looked up at the wavy-haired male.

"Don't worry about it," Naraku said with a small smile. His boyfriend was new to this, his first sexual experience happening only a few days ago. He didn't think Sesshomaru was ready to do anything to him yet.

"But…" Sesshomaru started.

"Shh, it's okay. Another time."

"Are…are you sure?"

"Mhm. You're tired, let's go to sleep. Well…after you change."

Sesshomaru blushed then slowly got up. He went over to his bag and got a new pair of boxers out. He took off the ones he was wearing and carefully wiped himself off with them. Then he slipped into the new ones and crawled back into bed. He snuggled next to his boyfriend while Naraku pulled a thin blanket over their hips.

"Good night, Naraku."

"Good night, Sessh."

They held each other as they finally went to bed, both teens content.

…

School would be starting in less than two weeks. Naraku was kind of excited while Sesshomaru was very nervous. He just hoped that the kids would be different from the ones at his old school. He wasn't sure what he would do if everyone there started teasing him and beating him up.

The next day would be time to register. They had to go to the school to pick up their schedules and pick which college classes they wanted to take. Both teens went on the same day but since Naraku's last name came before Sesshomaru's alphabetically, he went in the morning and Sesshomaru in the afternoon.

"We need to take at least one class together," Naraku said. He and Sesshomaru were looking through the catalog of classes the college mailed home to students.

"What do you want to take? Have you picked any out?" Sesshomaru asked.

"I'm taking math just to get it over with, then that counseling class since we're required to. Our last class has to be something interesting. What are you taking?"

"Bleh…I don't know. I wanted to try psychology and see how that goes." He flipped through the pages. "Wanna take photography?"

"Fuuuck no."

"Good, I don't either. They have a lot of music classes…"

"Really? That's cool. Oh, you probably wouldn't want to."

"Maybe if we can't find anything else then we'll come back to this section."

"What about some sort of art class?"

"Let me check." He turned to the front and searched through them. "They have drawing, art history, painting…"

"What kind of painting?"

"Water color and acrylic."

"I've always wanted to learn how to paint."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Can we take the acrylics one?"

"Alright, sounds good to me."

"Hey, you know what I just realized?"

"What?"

"We might not be able to take one together."

"Why not?"

"One of us might get afternoon track at the high school while the other gets morning."

Sesshomaru frowned, he had forgotten about that. He hoped that didn't happen. He didn't want to go to class all alone, it scared him. "Well, we'll find out tomorrow…"

"Yeah, I'll text you when I'm done and tell you."

…

Sesshomaru was in his room getting dressed. His mom had to go with him to register so they were going to run an errand, go to lunch, then go to the school. Naraku still hadn't texted him yet. He really didn't want to be in a different track from his boyfriend. Morning classes were from 7:45 to 11:00 and the afternoon ones were from 11:45 to 3:00.

"Sessh!" he heard. "You ready yet?"

"In a few minutes, mom!" he called back.

He put on a t-shirt and shoes then brushed his hair. After making sure he had his phone, he went downstairs and they left.

A half-hour later, he was in the car when Naraku texted him. The message said that the black-haired teen was in morning track and the art class he had picked was on Mondays and Wednesdays at 11:10. He told him the details so Sesshomaru would know which class to sign up for when he went.

'What about your counseling class?' Sesshomaru asked.

'Sign up for the one on Mon/Wed at 12:50 to 1:50,' Naraku told him.

"Who's that?" Kimi asked.

"Naraku. He was telling me which track he's in and which class he signed up for us to take."

"Oh, what'd he pick?"

"Yesterday we decided to take some painting class so he was giving me the details of it. It'll only work if I get morning track like him too."

"Ah, well we'll see soon."

…

"Last name?" a girl sitting at a desk asked Sesshomaru.

"Taisho," he replied."

They were at the school now. The girl was getting a folder then he and his mom would sit with someone to plan out his college classes.

"Alright, take this and go to the woman sitting in the corner."

"Okay, thanks."

The woman that sat with them was the counselor for the high school. She took the folder the boy had and pulled out his schedule. "Alright," she said. "Looks like you're in morning track which means you'll be done with your high school classes by eleven. Do you know which classes you might be interested in?"

"Well, I wanted to try psychology and a painting class…"

"Okay. Here, you can look through the list and choose which one you want."

Sesshomaru looked at the list and picked a psych class that was on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:10 to 12:30. Then he chose the other two classes Naraku had picked. The meeting went pretty quickly. Soon Sesshomaru and Kimi were on their way home. The boy had already texted his boyfriend telling him his own schedule.

…

"Let's go swimming or something. It's hot as fuck and it's only eleven!" Byakuya whined.

He, Kagura, Naraku, and Sesshomaru were sitting outside. There was only a few days left of summer vacation before everyone had to go back to school. The white-haired boy had spent the night.

"Fine. Change and be back out here in five minutes," Naraku ordered.

Once he and Sesshomaru were alone in his room, he asked him a question.

"Would you be comfortable taking your shirt off there?"

Sesshomaru thought about it before shaking his head. "No…I mean, yeah you've seen me naked but I'm only comfortable with even just taking my shirt off around you." Yes, he was fine with Naraku seeing his body but that was only with his boyfriend. Just because Naraku thought he was beautiful didn't mean anyone else would. They would just think he was ugly and laugh at him.

"Alright, I was just wondering. It's okay if you don't. But you're not ugly, Sesshomaru. Anyone who thinks so would have to be out of their mind." He finished changing and saw that Sesshomaru was already done. "Ready to go back out?"

"Yeah, let's go."

…

The days passed and the first day of school had arrived. Naraku and Sesshomaru only had two classes that day. Tomorrow would be two different classes. College didn't start until next week. They went together and sat down. Class passed by without a problem. They recognized a couple people from their old school but those kids didn't say anything. One glared at the couple but that was it. They discovered from another student that they didn't have to take four high school classes. Since they were taking three college classes, they only needed to take three high school classes. The teenagers got rid of their second class on Mondays and Wednesdays so they instead got out at 9:15 on those days and every other Friday.

By the end of the week, Naraku and Sesshomaru had already started making a few friends. The majority of people in class liked Naraku with his funny and outgoing personality. Sesshomaru was quiet but he had found a couple girls he liked talking to. They were laid back and didn't mind that the boy was often very quiet.

A few days after college classes started, the couple got used to the different setting. They liked it a lot. It was a freer environment and most people were more mature.

On Wednesday, Sesshomaru was coming from the school library to the grass area that Naraku was hanging out at. During their break he had to finish up an assignment but his boyfriend had stayed behind to hang out with a few people. The white-haired boy joined them before their painting class started. Everyone greeted him and continued talking while he sat across his boyfriend so he wouldn't be facing the sun.

A girl from all the students' government class came up to them. Her name was Amaya and she had a very bubbly personality. Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow when she sat down…very close to Naraku. He said nothing but watched her carefully. Within a few minutes, Amaya was obviously trying to hit on Sesshomaru's boyfriend. Some people knew that Naraku and Sesshomaru were going out but she apparently was one of the students who didn't. Sesshomaru was angry at her but another part of him felt bad that Naraku wasn't pushing her away.

"Hey, Amaya," one of the girls Sesshomaru talked to said. "Are you and Dean still going out?"

"No," she answered. "I broke up with him a couple weeks ago. Now I'm all free…" She glanced at Naraku.

The dark-haired teen noticed and was uncomfortable. He started getting up.

"You're not leaving, are you, Naraku?" Amaya asked, ready to get up with him.

"I'm moving to sit with Sesshomaru," he told her. He sat next to his boyfriend and smiled at him. Then he wrapped an arm around the smaller boy's waist.

"How long have you and Sesshomaru been going out anyways?" Sesshomaru's friend Katie asked Naraku.

Amaya looked shocked.

"Mm, about five months now," he told her. "We've known each other longer though."

"You two are going out?" the bubbly girl asked.

"Yup."

"Nuh-uh. You guys are joking."

"Um, no. We're not."

"So you're gay then?"

"No. He's straight but he just likes to fuck men," Sesshomaru deadpanned. He didn't like this girl at all.

"I was just wondering. He didn't seem gay is all."

"It's not like we have distinct personalities. Not every gay guy likes to paint his nails and go shopping." He turned to Naraku and his tone changed completely. "Hey, we should go to class now before we're late."

"Yeah, alright."

Naraku started getting up but then he heard Amaya whisper to Katie about still not believing the two boys were going out. He got angry with Amaya, she was an idiot.

"Hey, Sessh," he said.

The white-haired boy turned around to face him after he zipped up his backpack. As soon as he did, Naraku pushed himself onto him and crashed their lips together. He took advantage of Sesshomaru's surprise and slipped his tongue into his mouth. Sesshomaru got over his shock and fell into the kiss. He loved the way Naraku dominated and possessed him with his lips and tongue. Yes, there were people watching but he didn't give a fuck.

Naraku slowly pulled away with a nibble to Sesshomaru's bottom lip. A couple of their friends whistled and Katie laughed because Amaya had the most shocked expression on her face.

"Come on, beautiful," Naraku said to his boyfriend. "Let's go to class."

Sesshomaru grabbed the hand that was offered to him and allowed himself to be hauled up. He smirked at Katie and she winked at him.

"Believe us yet?" Naraku asked Amaya before the couple left.

…

By the next day at the high school, everyone who didn't know before now knew Naraku and Sesshomaru were a couple. No one really had a problem with it and the ones that did said nothing about it. Sesshomaru was nervous that someone would confront him and make fun of him for it but he still continued on normally. No matter what happened a small part of him still feared that he would be tortured at this new school like he was at his old school. He knew it was silly because he had already made friends, almost everyone seemed open-minded, and Naraku would always protect him. That fear just couldn't be completely erased though. Maybe it wouldn't disappear until he was through with school.

Every time he was alone, he'd look around with wary eyes. He couldn't trust anyone, even the people he had class with. They could suddenly find a reason to hate him and start tormenting him. Just like they did at his old school.

Thoughts like that always bothered him but one Friday in September became really bad. He and Naraku were sitting together in the one class they had that day which was government. All they were doing was watching a movie for the entire period. Sesshomaru wasn't paying attention, he was sitting in the back imagining getting beat up by kids in his class. They would wait until he was alone, perhaps in the parking lot, then they'd force him to go to the area hidden with trees and bushes. That was where the boy's torture would take place. One would hold him, another would punch him in the face, others would kick him. He would bleed and bruise…

The only thing Sesshomaru saw was himself getting beat to near unconsciousness. He wasn't in class anymore, his mind put him in the hands of sadistic tormentors. And it terrified him.

In the classroom, Sesshomaru's breathing sped up along with his heartbeat. His hands started shaking and then he felt like he couldn't breath. That brought him back but now he was even more afraid. He felt like he was suffocating. He gasped for air and then Naraku was kneeling next to him. The older teen quickly helped him out of the room and then Sesshomaru noticed the teacher had followed.

Tears gathered in his eyes and he reached for Naraku. His boyfriend held him and softly rubbed his back. Sesshomaru's breathing eventually evened out and he stopped trembling. He continued crying because of all the fear and embarrassment. His whole class had witnessed him having a panic attack and now their teacher was out here watching. He didn't want to leave Naraku's grasp so he hid his face in the taller teen's neck.

"Sesshomaru…" the teacher said quietly. He gently put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Come on, let's go down to the office."

The boy slowly looked up at his boyfriend. "You're coming with me, right?"

"Of course," Naraku answered. "Let's go." He put an arm around the younger one's shoulders and they along with their teacher walked down.

Once there, the oldest male went to talk to the school counselor while the two teens sat down. Sesshomaru leaned his head on Naraku's shoulder and looked down at the ground.

"You wanna tell me what happened?" Naraku asked quietly.

"Not here," Sesshomaru replied. "I will later."

"Alright."

"Sesshomaru," the government teacher said. "The counselor wants to speak with you."

The boy stood up and went into her office. She told him to close the door behind him so he did then he sat down.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" she asked Sesshomaru.

"I had a panic attack," he said.

"Do you know what triggered it?"

"No," he lied.

"Was this the first time?"

"Yeah."

Sesshomaru was trying to keep all emotion from his voice but the counselor could still hear a small quiver when he spoke.

"You gave your teacher a scare there. You know we're here to help. If there's anything you want to talk about then you can come to either of us. We'll listen."

"Thank you but I'm fine. I don't know…maybe it was just from stress or something. I'll be fine though…"

"Alright, if you're sure. But I think it would be best if we called your parents to pick you up."

"No. I mean…it would just cause them to worry and ask a bunch of questions when it's nothing."

"Sorry, Sesshomaru but I would like your parents to know. You can go back out with Naraku while I call them."

"Oh…alright…"

"Would it be best to call your mom or dad?"

"My mom, I guess."

"Okay. You want to go get your things from class?"

"Yeah." He stood up and left the room. "Naraku…come with me to get my backpack."

"You're going home?"

"Yeah, she wants me too."

The couple walked down the hallway but stopped when they were out of hearing distance from the people in the office.

"I was thinking about the kids in class…" Sesshomaru started. "I pictured them beating me up like they used to at our old school. I got scared and then I couldn't breath so I felt even more scared. And yeah…that's why that happened."

"Oh, Sessh…" Naraku embraced his boyfriend. "That won't happen. The people here are different. They won't hurt you. I would never allow it anyways."

"Yeah, I know…I'm stupid for thinking like that."

"Don't say that. You're not stupid. I understand why you're thinking like this and that it must be hard to be at a new school after everything that's happened. But trust me, the kids here won't be like that. You've already made friends and most of the people seem nice, the ones here and the ones we've met at the college. Just…try not to worry. I know it's difficult but just try not to. And if you do feel anxious ever then you know you just need to tell me and I'll try to make you feel better."

Sesshomaru nodded. "I know. Thank you, Naraku. And I do know that they won't actually gang up on me but…I can't help it sometimes."

"I get it. That'll stop eventually." Naraku glanced down the hall. "We'd better grab your stuff and go back before they wonder what's taking us so long."

"Yeah, last thing I need is for them to ask me more questions. But…can you get my bag for me? I don't really want to go back in…"

"Sure. I'll be right back."

Naraku walked into their classroom and came back a minute later. He carried Sesshomaru's backpack for him and they went back to the office. The two sat there with Naraku holding Sesshomaru until Kimi arrived.

She said hi to Naraku and asked Sesshomaru if he was okay then signed her son out. Naraku hugged him.

"Call me later?" he said.

"I will," Sesshomaru promised. "Tell Katie that I'm fine."

"Alright. See you, Sessh. Bye, Kimi."

"Bye, Naraku," the woman said.

She and Sesshomaru drove home. It was still early, only about half past eight.

"What happened, Sessh?" his mother asked.

"Panic attack," he told her.

"I know. Why?"

"I don't know."

"Is something wrong that you haven't been talking about?"

"No."

"Are you and Naraku having problems?"

The boy narrowed his eyes. "We're doing fine."

"Jeez, fine. I was just asking." She knew the two didn't have any major issues but she asked just to make sure. "The counselor said that you told her it was from stress."

"I said it might be. I don't know what else would make that happen, it never has before."

"Are you sure you'll be okay?"

"Yeah. I don't think it was necessary for them to make me leave but whatever."

"Okay, but if you need to talk about anything then tell me. You know I just want to help."

"Yeah, I know. Thanks. Do you have to go back to work?"

"Yeah. They said I could take the day off if I needed to but I should go back in. Lot of work to finish today."

"Oh, alright. Do you care if I ask Naraku to come over later?"

"No, go ahead."

A few minutes later they were at the house. Kimi walked in with her son to make sure he really was okay then left a little afterwards. Once she was gone, Sesshomaru went to his room and stripped off his jeans. He crawled into bed, pulled the sheet over himself, and cried. He cried freely since no one was home to witness his display. After he was finished, he texted Naraku to ask if he wanted to come over later then flipped his pillow over. The other side was soaked from all his tears. When Naraku told him yes and that he'd be over in the afternoon, Sesshomaru put his phone down and fell asleep. A couple hours later he woke up and saw a message from Naraku.

'I still have your house key from earlier,' the crimson-eyed teen had sent.

'Just use it to let yourself in later,' Sesshomaru told him. 'I'll leave the latch off for you.'

Then he went downstairs and undid the latch but kept the door locked. He thought about making himself something to eat or playing video games but decided to go back to sleep. He'd probably wake up before Naraku came over.

…

Naraku drove over to his boyfriend's house after twelve. He used the other boy's key to open the front door and went inside.

"Sesshomaru?" he called out.

When he received no answer, he searched downstairs then went up to the bedroom. He saw the quiet boy curled up on his bed asleep. He put his things down and grabbed something to eat from the kitchen. Then he went back up and kept himself busy. First he worked on the essay that was due in government on Monday then he played video games. He paused it after a while and went over to his boyfriend. Surprisingly the boy was still asleep. Naraku sat down beside him and stroked the white hair. He loved running his hands through it, it was just so soft. And he knew Sesshomaru loved the feeling too.

"Naraku…?" he heard.

"Right here, Sessh," he whispered.

The boy relaxed once he heard his boyfriend's voice then pressed his head more into Naraku's hand. A soft sigh escaped his lips. "When did you get here?"

"Eh, couple hours ago."

"Sorry…I meant to get up before you came." He rolled over onto his back and looked up at his boyfriend.

"Don't worry about it."

"I don't know why I slept so long…"

"When did you fall asleep?"

"A little while after I came home. I was up for a few minutes when I texted you but that's it."

"Hm, guess you're just tired."

"Yeah." He sat up. "What have you been doing since you got here?"

Naraku shrugged. "Homework, video games."

"You don't mind staying here, do you? I'd sneak out but my mom is most likely coming back whenever her lunch is, same with my dad. She didn't say it but she'll probably get mad if I go out while I'm so stressed or whatever."

"Nah, I don't care. It's fine." He kissed his boyfriend on the lips. "How are you feeling anyways? Since this morning?"

"Eh, fine. I just hope it doesn't happen again. Did anyone in class say anything?"

"Yeah, they asked me what was wrong. I said it was none of their business. I told Katie that you'd be fine though. Has she texted you?"

"Nope."

"Oh, I told her not to until later on. In case you weren't in the mood or something. Want to go downstairs?"

"Sure. Just let me get some pants on."

"Or you could just take the rest of your clothes off."

"Yeah, and then my mom can come home."

"Oh, yeah forgot about that."

"Heh, course you did."

A half an hour later, Kimi did come home. Before she had to go back she told Sesshomaru that his father couldn't come for his lunch and that she would be home by four. Once she was gone, the teens found ways to entertain themselves. It eventually led to them making out on Sesshomaru's bed then to clothes being taken off. Naraku was about to really make him feel good but the younger boy stopped him. Sesshomaru was finally ready to try to give Naraku the pleasure he had already given him twice. The boy was nervous but Naraku encouraged him. He only used his hands this time, he wasn't ready to use his mouth yet. But Naraku enjoyed it anyways. Sesshomaru had really come out from his shell.


	7. Chapter 7

WARNING (this story will contain the following): homosexual relationships, sex scenes, major OOCness, AU (modern times), fluff, uke Sesshomaru, bullying, author is a complete sap…did I mention _major_ OOCness?

* * *

Chapter Seven

Sesshomaru was curled up to Naraku on the bed with his eyes closed. The bigger male was just lightly rubbing his back.

"Hey," Naraku started after a little while.

"Yeah?" Sesshomaru said.

"It's gonna start getting cold here soon, we should go to the beach before it does."

"Let's go tomorrow or Sunday."

"Tomorrow then. You wanna see if Katie and her boyfriend can go?"

"Yeah. We should call Ah-Un too. We haven't hung with him for a while."

"Alright. I'll ask him, you ask Katie."

"Okay…in a little bit."

…

"Are they almost here?" Naraku asked.

"Yeah, Katie just told me they'll be here in a minute," Sesshomaru said.

The couple along with Ah-Un was waiting in the white-haired teen's garage. All of them were going in Naraku's car. Katie and her boyfriend Rei were running late though. It was ten in the morning, they had to leave early since the drive would take a couple hours. Finally they saw Rei's car pull up and the three teens walked outside to meet them.

"Sorry we're late," Katie apologized as they all climbed into Naraku's car. "Rei was taking forever to masturbate."

"Shut up," Rei said. "Was not."

"Maybe he wouldn't take so long if you put out more," Naraku told Katie.

"Shut the fuck up! No one asked you!" she laughed as well as the other teens.

Around noon, they were finally parking. They got out and grabbed their things then went to find a spot to settle at.

"Look!" Rei shouted. "There's almost no one over there!" He then ran off to go claim the area of beach that was almost empty.

Katie and Ah-Un ran after him, the two teens had clicked fairly quickly during the car ride.

Naraku and Sesshomaru stayed behind though and just walked. They were talking and holding each other's hand.

"…I think I want to work on being able to take my shirt off in public," Sesshomaru said quietly.

"Really?" Naraku said.

"Yeah. I don't like hiding all the time…"

"You want to try taking it off today then?"

Sesshomaru immediately shook his head. "I have to work up to it. I just decided a minute ago that I was going to work on this."

"Well, no strangers are really around and the three of them won't laugh at you."

"I know…but I still don't want to right now."

"Alright. But I am glad you want to."

"…Maybe later I will."

Naraku smiled. They made it to the spot and laid their towels out on the sand.

"You hungry?" Katie asked as she sat next to Sesshomaru.

"Yeah, I haven't eaten all day," the white-haired boy answered. He pulled out a bag of chips and started munching on them.

The other three sat down too and everyone ate lunch before they started playing. After a few hours, Sesshomaru went back to where their stuff was and lied down on his towel. He was soaked since he had just been in the water with Katie and Rei. Naraku and Ah-Un were a short distance away tossing a frisbee back and forth.

"Hey, I'm gonna head to the water," Ah-Un told the older teen.

"Alright," Naraku said.

"You coming?"

He glanced over and saw Sesshomaru lying down. "Nah, you go ahead."

They split and Naraku went over to his boyfriend. He sat next to him and stared until Sesshomaru opened his eyes.

"Hey, creep," the golden-eyed boy said.

Naraku stuck his tongue out. "Hello."

"What are you doing?"

"Sitting. You?"

"Laying. Why didn't you go in the water with everyone else?"

"I wanted to see what you were up to. Why aren't you down there?"

"I just came from the water. I got kind of cold…"

"It's because of all those soaked clothes you're wearing."

"Yeah, I know…"

Naraku then leaned over him.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing." Then he swooped down and kissed Sesshomaru.

The younger of the two returned it after a moment. He then felt Naraku shifting so that his body was directly on top of his and between his legs. Sesshomaru broke the kiss when he felt hands lifting up his shirt.

"Stop. What are you doing?"

"Helping you with your shirt so you won't be as cold."

"Naraku, I told you I had to work up to it."

"No one is around. We picked an empty spot, the other three are all down in the water. They won't laugh at you."

Sesshomaru thought about it. He was still terrified of the idea but he wanted to be brave. He was tired of always feeling weak and scared. And he knew the only way to get over this fear of exposing his body was to just take his shirt off.

"Alright. Take it off. Hurry before I change my mind."

Naraku quickly pushed it up more then made Sesshomaru sit up a little so that he could pull the cloth over his head. Once he got it off, Naraku tossed it onto his towel and looked down at Sesshomaru.

The boy felt anxious but at the same time he felt really good. He did it. But now the real test would be keeping it off while he was around their friends.

"I'm proud of you," Naraku whispered.

Sesshomaru closed his eyes. "Thanks."

Naraku then went back to kissing him. Katie looked up at them and nudged the other two.

"Aren't they adorable together?" she asked.

"Hey, why don't you ever kiss me like that?" Rei said to her.

"When I do you get all whiny for some reason."

"Maybe that's just to see if you'll try harder."

"Pfft. Yeah, I'm sure that's the reason."

Rei and Katie had a sort of different relationship from the average straight couple. Katie was dominant and more masculine while Rei was submissive and less masculine. It worked out for them and they were both happy to find someone that could give them what they needed.

Sesshomaru moaned into his boyfriend's mouth. He knew he was enjoying this a little too much. When Naraku grinded his hips down between his legs he knew he needed to stop before he got too aroused.

"N-Naraku," he gasped.

"Hm?" the other teen hummed as his lips moved to Sesshomaru's neck.

"We need to stop…"

"Why?"

"B-because I don't want a...don't want a boner in front of everyone."

Naraku grinned against his boyfriend's neck. "Oh, you don't?"

"Not here. When we get back home."

"Mm, sounds like a plan."

With one last grind, Naraku rolled off Sesshomaru. The white-haired boy saw their friends walking towards them then remembered that he didn't have a shirt on. He became extremely nervous and had to fight the urge to put one back on. When his friends sat down and didn't laugh at him though, he relaxed somewhat.

They didn't leave until it was dark. The group ended their outing by starting a small fire and huddling around it. Everyone was tired during the drive home so it was pretty quiet and relaxed. Ah-Un was dropped off at home first since he had to be back the earliest. Naraku drove to Sesshomaru's house and parked then the two couples parted since Rei's car was there too. After they left, the other two went inside. It was almost 10:30. Both of the younger boy's parents were still awake and just watching tv in the living room.

"Hey, you two," Kimi said. "You have a good time at the beach?"

"Yeah," Sesshomaru answered. "It was fun. We're full of sand though so we're gonna go up to take showers."

They said good night then the younger pair went upstairs. Quietly, they both went into the bathroom to shower together.

Kimi and Touga could hear the water running from downstairs. Whoever was in there stayed for quite a while. After that person was done, the two adults waited for the other teen to go in. They never did though and Sesshomaru's parents knew what happened.

The man turned to his wife. "Kimi."

"Touga."

"They showered together."

"I know."

"Well…what else do you think they've done together?"

"Probably more than we originally thought."

"Should we talk to Sesshomaru?"

"I think so. We will tomorrow, he can't avoid it anymore."

Upstairs and unaware of the awkward conversation that would be taking place the next day, Sesshomaru lied down with his boyfriend and fell asleep.

…

"Hey, Sora. Can I talk to you for a minute?" Kimi asked.

Naraku's family was over at Sesshomaru's house. Izayoi and Inuyasha were on their way too. They had all gotten together to hang out and have a barbeque before fall came and it got too cold.

"Sure," the other woman answered. "Something wrong?"

"No, it's just…Touga and I noticed last night that the boys showered together. Did you know that?"

"No, but I figured they probably did stuff like that." Sora saw that Kimi wasn't completely sure how to react over it. "I don't think it's really a big deal. I mean, I doubt they're having sex yet so no harm."

"Yeah, I don't think they are either. Those two are close but Sesshomaru isn't ready for sex yet."

"Naraku's already lost his virginity but he won't push Sesshomaru into anything he isn't ready for."

"Yeah…I trust him to take care of Sesshomaru. I'm still gonna have a talk with him later on though."

"Hehe, that's always a nice awkward conversation."

"Haha, yeah but necessary."

"I'm sure he'll be real thrilled. I know Naraku sure was."

"Pfft, I bet."

The two women chuckled then rejoined everyone else.

…

"Sesshomaru, sit down for a minute."

"Um, okay," the teen said and listened to his mom. Everyone had left a couple hours ago and Sesshomaru was already showered and ready to go to sleep. He wondered why his parents looked so serious. "Something wrong?"

"No. Your father and I just want to have a talk with you."

"About what?"

"Your relationship with Naraku."

Sesshomaru immediately knew exactly what she meant. "Come on. Do we have to? I already know how it works."

"Yes, you know the basics but we want to make sure you understand everything that comes with having sex with someone."

"I already know. This is pointless."

"We don't think so," Touga said. "Believe me, this is awkward for us too but it has to be said."

Sesshomaru sat through the talk quietly even though it was extremely uncomfortable. He didn't bother with telling them that they weren't even having sex. Yeah, they did other things to each other but that wasn't exactly the same. Doing those things made Sesshomaru feel even closer to his boyfriend/best friend.

"Alright, is that everything?" Sesshomaru asked impatiently once they were finished.

"Yeah, yeah," Kimi answered.

"I'm going to bed then. Goodnight."

"Night, Sesshomaru."

The boy went to his room and texted the crimson-eyed teen, telling him about the conversation he just had with his parents. Naraku laughed at him, remembering how much he hated it when his mom talked to him after discovering he was no longer a virgin.

'Yeah, yeah, very funny,' Sesshomaru sent and Naraku could feel the sarcasm.

'Well, I thought so.'

'Whatever. Alright, I'm gonna go to bed.'

'Okay. Goodnight, Sessh.'

'Goodnight. See you in the morning.'

…

The next couple months passed by without many problems. Sesshomaru finally felt like a normal teenager. He went to school and hung out with his boyfriend and friends. The couple still touched each other intimately but only when they were sure no one else was in the house. The younger of the two was also becoming more comfortable with taking his shirt off in front of others. Since it was almost winter and the weather was cold, it didn't happen often but when it did Sesshomaru was mostly okay. Naraku was glad to see his self-esteem rising. Sesshomaru was an amazing person even if the boy didn't quite believe that yet.

Soon it was December and winter break was approaching. It was the last week of school which was filled with nothing but finals for all the high school and college classes. It was Tuesday and the boys were sitting in English. They were done with the study guide their teacher had given them so they just talked.

"Okay, I talked to my mom and she told me it's for sure," Naraku said.

"You guys leaving?" Sesshomaru asked.

"Yeah, I'm leaving for the first week of break."

"…Why are you going again?"

"We're going back to Washington to visit family."

"This sucks…well, I mean it's cool that you get to go back."

"Yeah, but I won't be able to see you. I'll call you every night though."

"When are you going?"

"Friday afternoon."

"Wow, that gives us almost no time to hang out before."

"Yeah, I know…we can hang out after school this week and then I'll stop by Friday morning to say bye to you."

The days passed by too quickly for the pair. Naraku was excited to go back to his home state but he was sad that he wouldn't see Sesshomaru for an entire week. Sesshomaru was upset too. He tried not to show it though. Soon it was Friday morning and the teens were hanging out for a couple hours before Naraku left to the airport. They had taken a walk but were now coming back to Sesshomaru's house. No one else was there besides them since the boy's parents were at work.

Naraku nuzzled his boyfriend's neck after they sat down on the couch. "Mm, I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too," Sesshomaru murmured as he tilted his head back a little.

"I'll call you and take lots of photos while I'm there."

"Alright, call me once you land in the airport."

"I will." Naraku then pressed his lips to the younger boy's. "I'll…see you next…weekend," he said between kisses. He then pushed Sesshomaru onto his back and climbed on top of him.

Sesshomaru wound his arms around the other teen's neck while one of Naraku's hands grabbed his hair and the other pressed against his lower back. Naraku pulled back when they ran out of air. He looked down at Sesshomaru who panted slightly through parted lips, had messy hair, and looked at him with golden eyes burning with emotion. He looked so beautiful to the older male, he didn't want to leave this gorgeous boy.

"I love you," Naraku told him. It was the first time those words had been spoken.

"I love you too," Sesshomaru said with no hesitation.

They held each other for a few minutes. They were both lying on their sides now. Naraku was already running late but he didn't care. He looked into Sesshomaru's eyes and stroked the side of his face. Sesshomaru smiled at him and buried his face into his neck.

"Are your parents gonna be mad that you're late?" he asked.

"Hell yeah…but oh well."

A couple minutes later, the taller teen's phone started ringing. It was his father.

"Where are you?" Takeo asked impatiently.

"I'm on my way!" Naraku barked.

"Hurry up! We have to leave soon."

He hung up and looked back at Sesshomaru. "Guess I should go now."

"Yeah…your dad sounds pissed."

They sat up and Sesshomaru walked him out to his car.

"Bye, Sesshomaru. I'll miss you so much." Naraku embraced him once more.

"I'll miss you too. Have fun."

"I will. Love you."

Sesshomaru smiled. "Love you too."

They shared one more passionate kiss before Naraku really did have to leave.

"I'll call you tonight!" the bigger male said before he drove off.

After Naraku was gone, Sesshomaru walked back into his house. He wasn't used to being away from Naraku for more than a couple days so this week would suck but he was happy for his boyfriend. Sesshomaru would have loved to go back to Boston and visit all his old friends, especially during that first year after the move.

A few days later, Sesshomaru was hanging out with Katie at her house.

"Hey, do you want to spend the night?" the girl asked.

"Sure, if my mom let's me," Sesshomaru answered. "Your parents won't care?"

"Nah, come on. I'll ask right now."

They walked downstairs and found her mom in the kitchen.

"Mom, can Sesshomaru spend the night?" Katie asked.

"Yeah. But does Rei know?"

The teen rolled her eyes. "He doesn't care. You that Rei knows him and that Sesshomaru's gay anyways."

"Oh, alright. I was just wondering if he would."

"Nah, it's fine."

"Okay. Sesshomaru, if you want I can drive you home so you can get your things."

"Alright. Thanks, Lauren. Oh, wait. Let me call my mom real quick." He took out his phone and dialed Kimi's number. "Hi, Mom. Can I spend the night at Katie's?"

"Is it okay with her parents?"

"Yeah."

"Alright then, if you want."

"Okay, cool. I'll be over in a little bit to pick up my things."

"Okay. Only your dad will be there though. I'm working late tonight."

"Oh, see you tomorrow then. Bye."

"Bye, Sessh."

Afterwards the three of them drove to Sesshomaru's house, he gathered his things then they went back to Katie's. In the evening Katie was looking at herself in a mirror.

"I want to cut my hair."

"Why? Your hair looks good," the boy said.

"I know."

"Then why do you want to change it?"

"Because I like it but I don't love it."

"What do you want to do to it?"

"Cut it short." She turned around. "Help me cut my hair."

"Right now?"

"Yeah."

"…If you want but I've never really cut hair before."

"That's fine. Come on. We'll have to do it in the garage."

Katie found her dad's electric shaver along with scissors. She sat down in front of a mirror in the garage while Sesshomaru found a towel and wrapped it around her.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" the boy asked.

"Yep."

"Alright then. What am I doing first?"

"Shaving the back."

"What?"

"Yeah, put the biggest clip on the shaver then cut it."

"Oh…okay. Damn, I didn't realize you wanted it _that_ short."

"Me either until like five minutes ago."

"…How do you put the clip on?"

"You've never used a shaver before?"

Sesshomaru held up some of his own hair. "Does _this_ look like it's been shaven before?"

"Haha, true." She put it on for him then handed it back. "I don't care if the length's abrupt. I'm not gonna try and make it blend. Know what I mean?"

"Yup. Tilt your head forward a bit. Okay, ready?"

"Hell yeah, boy!"

He turned it on then began. Her hair went to her shoulders and once he was finished the back was only an inch and a half long. Sesshomaru couldn't help but run his hand over it, it felt fuzzy.

"Feel that. Is the back good?" Sesshomaru asked.

Katie ran her hands through it. "Haha, this is going to be fucking awesome. Does my dad have a razor in that box?"

"Yeah, it doesn't look like it's ever been used."

"Good."

She then gave Sesshomaru instructions on how to cut her hair. He was to use both the scissors and razor. It took a long time before it was finished. Once he was finally done, he tossed everything inside the box and stood in front of Katie. He had made her sit with her back to the mirror so she couldn't see what she looked like.

"How's it look?" she asked eagerly.

"Someone who isn't me might describe you as an emo boy," Sesshomaru replied.

She beamed and turned around. "Oh my god, I love you! It looks fuckin' hot!"

"How's the hair look?"

The teens turned towards the door and saw Katie's parents walking into the garage. Their eyes widened when they saw their daughter.

"Haha, you guys don't look like you like it," she laughed.

"We're just not used to seeing you with such short hair," Lauren said. She walked up to her child and grabbed some of the hair. "You cut this, Sesshomaru?"

"Yeah. First time too."

"Well, damn. This is good."

"Dude, Sesshomaru," Katie said. "We need to send Naraku a picture."

"Haha, he'll be shocked."

"I'm gonna wash my hair and restyle it then we will."

Katie's dad offered to sweep up the floor so the teens went upstairs. After Katie was all finished with her hair, Sesshomaru took out his phone.

"Strike a pose, girl," Sesshomaru told her. He took the picture then showed it to her.

"Haha, I look ridiculous!" she laughed. "Send it to Naraku and Rei."

He did and Rei immediately called him. Sesshomaru put it on speaker. "You like?" he asked the other boy.

"What. The. Fuck!" Rei yelled before hanging up. He called back again though. "And by the way, it looks hot!" Then he hung up again.

Katie and Sesshomaru laughed then Naraku texted back.

"What'd he say?" Katie asked.

Sesshomaru showed her. The text read, "._."

"Wow. I think your boyfriend is a little surprised there."

"Haha, maybe a little." Naraku sent another text and he read what it aloud. "He says he does like it though."

"Yesss. My hair looks awesomer now."

'Send me a picture of you,' Naraku sent.

'Alright, in a minute,' Sesshomaru replied.

"He wants a picture of me too," he told his friend.

"Ooh, let's send something sexy then," Katie said. "Have you ever worn make-up?"

"Um…no."

"Well, can I just do your eyes?"

"Do you have to?"

"Come on. You'd look really good."

Sesshomaru caved and let her do it. When she was done, he looked in the mirror. She put black eyeliner on his lower lids then blue eye shadow on his upper ones.

"Whoa," was all he said.

"You look good, man. Here, I have an idea. Take your shirt off and I'll put one of Rei's button ups on you."

Sesshomaru hesitantly did. He was still nervous about his body and this was the first time he bared his torso to anyone without Naraku around. Luckily, it was only with Katie and he was good friends with her.

The girl grabbed her boyfriend's black shirt and put it on Sesshomaru. She left it unbuttoned then had him lay on his back on the bed. He put his arms up next to his head and his eyes were half-lidded. Naraku would find this picture extremely sexy. Katie took it with his phone then sent it to his boyfriend. A few moments later Naraku answered back and she handed the phone to Sesshomaru.

'You are so fucking beautiful! I love you.'

'I love you too. So I take it you like?'

'Very much so. I think I may have to go…take a shower now before anyone notices.'

'Hm…mabye I'd like a picture too.'

A few minutes later, Sesshomaru got that picture and felt a spike of arousal shoot through him.

"Haha, did he send nudes?" Katie asked when she saw her friend's expression.

"Heh, not quite," Sesshomaru said but he didn't elaborate.

Naraku had been dressed in only his boxers. There was a very obvious bulge in them and one of his hands had slipped past the waistband. He and Sesshomaru continued to text with the older one sending dirty messages to tease Sesshomaru. He didn't allow himself to become aroused though at his friend's house. It would be embarrassing to happen just from texts.

He spent the night and the next day with Katie. During the week Naraku was gone, she and Rei were whom he hung out with mostly. Naraku called him and texted him while he was gone but he still missed him.

"I'm coming home tomorrow," Naraku told him. It was Friday night and they were talking before bed.

"Yes, I know," Sesshomaru said with a smile even though the other couldn't see. "Did you enjoy your trip?"

"Yeah, it was pretty fun. I missed all my friends. And my family too I guess."

"Haha, you guess?"

"Yeah, I mean I love them and all but they can be so annoying."

"Oh, I get what you're saying. What time will you back tomorrow?"

"Late. Probably not til almost midnight."

"Oh…"

"We can hang out on Sunday though. You free?"

"Mhm. Do you want to spend the night?"

"Yeah, I'll ask my mom tomorrow. Hey, I have to go now. Kagura and Byakuya are getting mad at me for being too loud apparently."

"Haha, alright. Talk to you later. I love you."

"I love you too. Bye."

The next night, Sesshomaru asked his mom if his boyfriend could spend the night.

"Yeah," she answered. "Your dad and I are gonna be gone most of the evening though."

"Oh, yeah. That party one of dad's workers is throwing, right?"

"Bleh, yep."

"Don't be too enthusiastic."

"Oh, hush. So yeah…don't do anything too…crazy while we're gone."

Sesshomaru threw her a glare. "You just had to say something awkward."

"Well, sorry. Anyways, we're leaving around seven. Hopefully we'll be back by ten…"

"Does Dad even want to go?"

"Not really but it's his boss so it would look bad if we didn't."

"Haha, sucks for you."

"I should make you go. Other people are taking their kids. So when does Naraku get back?"

"He should be landing in a couple hours."

"Are you excited to see him tomorrow?"

"Of course. It's been more than a week. But it's cool he got to go back. I would've liked to go back to Boston."

"I know…we just didn't have the money at the time and by the time we did, we were used to living here."

"Yeah, I know…it's not a big deal."

"I know it was hard to leave everyone but you made friends here too."

The boy's chest tightened when she said that. They had lived in California for three and a half years, he had only just begun making friends a year ago. He had tricked his parents so well before meeting Naraku.

"Sessh? Sesshomaru?"

"What?"

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"You didn't answer me at first."

"I was just thinking about Boston."

She looked at him worriedly.

"I'm kind of tired. I think I'm gonna go to bed."

"Are you sure nothing's wrong?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Night."

"…Night."

He made it to his room and got ready to go to sleep. Thinking about everything from his life in Boston to his life now overwhelmed him and a lot of it made him upset. He lied down after switching the lights off then he turned onto his side and cried.


	8. Chapter 8

WARNING (this story will contain the following): homosexual relationships, sex scenes, major OOCness, AU (modern times), fluff, uke Sesshomaru, bullying, author is a complete sap…did I mention _major_ OOCness?

* * *

Chapter Eight

Sesshomaru received a text from Naraku in the morning. He said he could be over in a couple hours. The amber-eyed teen got dressed happily. He felt better from last night, now he was just excited to see Naraku. When the raven-haired teen knocked on the door, he went to the door and answered.

"Sesshyyy!" Naraku shouted then grabbed his boyfriend in a huge hug and lifted him off his feet.

"Hi, Naraku," Sesshomaru said then he grabbed his face and kissed him.

The taller teen placed him back on the ground so that he could kiss his boyfriend more thoroughly. A few moments later, they heard a door close somewhere in the house and Sesshomaru quickly pulled away.

"My mom…" he said. "Come on, let's go in the living room."

They sat down just as Kimi walked down the stairs. She and Naraku greeted each other then she sat down too.

"Tell us about your trip," Kimi told the teen.

Naraku described everything that he and his family did. He had a lot of fun and it was obvious in the way he spoke. He did wish that Sesshomaru could have been there though, he would have liked to introduce him to all his Washington friends.

Kimi looked at her son, she felt bad that they never visited Boston. He had been so depressed when they first arrived in California, he had never wanted to come. But after the move they couldn't afford to go right back. And by the time they could…Sesshomaru seemed to be doing better. A trip back to his hometown would have just upset him again once he had to leave. She had no idea though that Sesshomaru had simply learned to put on an act.

But now he was doing so well, better than ever before. As far as she knew, Naraku was the first boyfriend he had in this state. And they were perfect for each other. Her baby was just so sensitive, the raven-haired teen was a great protector and he was sweet. She smiled as he gestured for her son to come closer to him. Sesshomaru rested his head on his shoulder after the taller male got a camera out.

"Kimi, you wanna look at some of the pictures we took up there?" Naraku asked.

She nodded then sat on his other side. He showed them the pictures and she thought it looked so nice up there. Being born in the Midwest, all she grew up around were cornfields.

The couple went out for a little bit. By the time they came home it was already dark out and Touga was just pulling up. He talked to Naraku for a few minutes while going inside the house. Then the man had to go get ready for the party. At 6:30 Sesshomaru's parents came downstairs and announced that they were leaving.

"Okay, you two. We should be back in a few hours, by midnight at the latest," Touga said. "I'll have my phone on if you need anything."

"Alright," his son said. "Bye, have a good time."

"See ya, guys," Naraku said.

After they left, the two waited a few minutes to make sure they didn't come back for something. Sesshomaru got up and locked the front door then made his way back over to Naraku.

"So what do you wanna do?" the boy asked.

"You," Naraku answered with a smirk.

The white-haired male walked up to him and sat right in his lap before kissing him. Naraku closed his eyes and grabbed him by the hips. Sesshomaru parted his lips and began grinding against the bigger teen. Naraku let him continue for a few more minutes before flipping them so that Sesshomaru was on his back. The younger one pulled away.

"Naraku…" he whined.

"Let's take this upstairs," he told him.

The two barely made it to the younger one's bedroom before they were over each other again. Naraku grabbed Sesshomaru's shirt and yanked it over his head before tossing his own to the floor. Then they worked off the rest of their clothes until they were both naked. The raven-haired male pushed his boyfriend onto the bed then settled on top of him. He started teasing Sesshomaru's neck with licks and light nips. The boy gasped then tilted his head to the side. Naraku's mouth continued while his hands moved to Sesshomaru's legs. He bent them up and spread them wide. He pulled away to look at him then grinded his hips down.

Sesshomaru moaned as their erections rubbed together. The friction felt great and soon he was bucking his hips up to meet his boyfriend's thrusts. Somewhere in the boy's mind, he thought that this was how it would be if they were having sex. They'd be in nearly the same position, just Naraku would actually be inside him. He never had anything inside him before though…he wanted to know what it felt like. They continued thrusting until Sesshomaru was about to cum.

"N-Naraku," he panted. "I'm about to…"

It took a lot of control, but Naraku stopped his movements. "I don't want you to just yet…I wanna try something."

"Like what?"

"Do you trust me? I won't hurt you. And if you don't like it, I'll stop."

"Okay. You can do it."

Naraku smiled then sat up on his knees. Sesshomaru watched him as he stuck his fingers in his mouth. Once the black-haired teen thought they were coated enough, he took them out and snaked his hand down to Sesshomaru's ass.

The boy's eyes widened with realization and he felt a shiver of anticipation.

"Make sure to keep your legs up," Naraku said before he slowly pushed a finger in.

Sesshomaru gasped and his muscles involuntarily tightened around the halfway in finger.

Naraku bit his lip. His boyfriend was so tight and so warm. "Sessh, you gotta relax." He rubbed his thigh in a comforting gesture.

Sesshomaru nodded and closed his eyes. He directed all his focus into keeping his muscles relaxed. Once Naraku felt him loosen a bit, he continued pushing until his finger was completely buried. Now the boy really had to concentrate on staying relaxed.

"You okay?" Naraku asked.

"Yeah," he panted.

The crimson-eyed teen then started to slowly thrust his finger in and out. He gradually sped up and when he felt the boy was used to it, he began adding a second. He was met with more resistance but eventually had two digirs inside Sesshomaru.

"Just tell me if you wanna stop."

"No, it's fine. You can move."

He thrust for a couple of minutes then started searching for that special spot. The boy was still hard but not quite as much and he wanted to fix that. His fingers hit that spot straight on and Sesshomaru arched his back and cried out.

"Fuck, fuck…again."

Naraku slammed into his prostate every time after that. The moans, cries, and whimpers he got out of Sesshomaru had him very aroused, and the boy's facial expressions only added to that fire. Sesshomaru was writhing now and his dick was extremely hard again. Those digits moving in and out of him, massaging his walls and then hitting his prostate, were going to make him cum again.

His boyfriend wouldn't have been able to tear his eyes away from him if he actually tried. "Sessh, touch yourself," he ordered in a husky voice. As Sesshomaru reached for his dick, he did the same.

Sesshomaru stroked himself fast and hard, his release not far off. With his other hand he grasped his balls and massaged them. Naraku could feel him spasm around his fingers, signaling his climax. He pushed in even harder and with one more thrust, Sesshomaru panted out his orgasm.

Naraku wasn't far behind. When Sesshomaru announced his rapture, it sent him over the edge too. He finished then lied down next to his boyfriend. They stayed still for a little bit before Sesshomaru turned his head towards him. He just smiled and cuddled into Naraku's side. After a few minutes, the older teen spoke.

"Maybe we should take a shower while no one's here," he suggested.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea."

They were both sticky, though Sesshomaru was the messiest, so a nice hot bath sounded nice. They got up and walked across the hall to the bathroom then waited for the tub to fill.

After they were finished, they went back downstairs to watch a movie. Sesshomaru ended up falling asleep in his boyfriend's arms. When it was over, Naraku turned off the downstairs lights and made sure the doors were locked then carried Sesshomaru to his room so they could sleep.

...

Around midnight, Sesshomaru woke up to loud knocking coming from the front door. Whoever it was had opened the screen door to knock instead of ringing the doorbell. Panic quickly filled him and he checked the time. It was twelve. He had put the latch on so maybe it was his parents. But the knocking was so obnoxious…

"Naraku!" he whispered. "Wake up!"

"What is it?" he mumbled. But then he heard the pounding and shot up, fully awake now. "Who is that?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's my parents."

He grabbed his phone and called his dad while Naraku ran to the adults' bedroom and grabbed the actual machete Touga kept by the bed. The knocking stopped for a moment before picking up again.

"Sesshomaru?" Touga answered.

"Hey, is that you?" the boy asked.

"What do you mean?"

"That's not you banging on the front door?"

"No…we're still at the party. What the...? Kimi!"

The boy watched as his boyfriend went downstairs and looked out the window. He quickly pulled his head away. Sesshomaru walked to the bottom of the stairs. Naraku grabbed the phone from him.

"Touga," Naraku said quietly. "There's some man outside. He's about your size and looks really creepy."

"We're already in the car."

The creep outside then started speaking. He had a deep, raspy voice. "Hey, open up. Come on! I know you're in there. You can't hide, you whore!"

The teens froze in fright. Then Touga started asking if they were still there.

"Oh my god. Touga, please hurry up."

The stranger spoke again. "Fine, you fuckers!" He then walked away.

Naraku watched him through the window.

"Dad, he left…" Sesshomaru said on the verge of tears. His worst fear was having someone break in during the middle of the night.

"Okay, Sessh, just stay downstairs and keep all the lights off. If anything happens then leave through the backyard. We'll be there soon." He knew how afraid his son was of things like this happening.

"Alright…"

Everything was calm for a few minutes and Touga stayed on the phone. Naraku sat on the bottom step, weapon in hand and ready to guard the other teen. Sesshomaru was just about to hang up with his father when he heard a noise that nearly made his heart stop. The creep was now pounding on the sliding glass door that led to the backyard.

"Dad, he's in the backyard!"

Naraku sprung up and went over to the door. It was covered by a curtain so the two males couldn't see each other. He held the machete out, ready to attack this stranger. He was honestly scared but his first priority was to protect Sesshomaru. The man punched and scratched at the door, muttering incoherent things. Then everything stopped. The man ran, going back to the front and leaving the house for good.

A minute later, the boy's parents pulled up. Naraku opened the door for them and they ran in. Sesshomaru was sitting on the stairs, staring at the floor with a few tears leaking out of his eyes. Touga went to his son and hugged him.

"Are you two okay?" Kimi asked Naraku as she relocked the front door.

"Yeah, we're fine," he answered. "That guy left just before you came."

She went around turning all the lights on including the ones that lit up the backyard. Touga just comforted his frightened son.

"It's okay now, Sessh. We're here. I won't let anything happen to you," the man whispered.

Sesshomaru felt so weak for being afraid like this but he couldn't help it. Ever since he was a little kid, he had always been terrified about these kinds of things. He just let his dad hold him and stroke his hair.

Everyone moved to the couches in the living room, no one would be going to bed for a while now. Kimi and Naraku sat on one couch. On the other, Touga sat with a pillow on his lap and his son's head resting on it.

"Were you guys asleep when the knocking started?" Kimi asked.

Naraku was the one to answer. "Yeah. Sesshomaru was up first then he woke me. I went to your room and grabbed that machete Touga keeps in there."

The man smirked. "Told you two it had a use. Pfft, making fun of me for having it next to the bed…"

"Heh, you were right, but it's still fun to tease you. Well…how was the party?"

"Boring as hell at first. It got better though. My boss got drunk, I would be ashamed in the morning if I were him."

They all talked for a while. Sometime after midnight, they decided to try to go to sleep. Sesshomaru was already drifting off again. Touga grabbed the machete though and started for the door.

"Where are you going?" his wife asked.

"To make sure no one's outside. I'll be back in a minute," Touga answered. "Lock the door behind me."

He then went out for a couple minutes and checked the area around the house before coming back. Naraku opened the door for him then locked it for the final time that night.

"Nothing out there," the man said before handing the weapon to Kimi and lifting his son up.

He carried the sleeping boy upstairs to his bedroom. Naraku said good night to Kimi then followed. He watched as Touga lied him down and covered him with the blankets. The man then turned to his son's boyfriend.

"Good night, Naraku."

"Night, Touga."

"Wake me up if you or Sesshomaru need anything."

"Alright, thanks."

After he left, the young man crawled into bed and wrapped his arms around Sesshomaru protectively. It took a while for sleep to come, but eventually the black-haired teen was able to drift off.

…

A couple weeks passed and it was time to go back to school. No one looked forward to it but there wasn't a choice. High school would be in session for a month before new college classes started. The two teens had planned their schedules to be as similar as possible.

The next few months passed by peacefully. Nothing major happened and Sesshomaru was glad for that. All he wanted to do for now was finish his last semester of high school and spend time with his boyfriend. It was already the beginning of April, spring break started in just a few days.

"Sesshomaru, your dad and I are thinking about taking that trip to Vegas," Kimi told her son. They were in the kitchen making something for lunch.

"Oh, yeah? When are you leaving?" he asked.

"Probably Friday morning. We gonna stop at my sister's for a couple days before."

"When are you coming back?"

"Next Friday night."

"Damn, that's a long time."

"Yeah, but we haven't gone for a really long time. I'm going to talk to Sora in a little bit to see if you can stay the week over there. You don't mind us leaving, do you?"

"Nah, it's fine. I'll have fun at Naraku's."

On Thursday night, Sesshomaru ate dinner then went to his bedroom. He didn't feel too great after eating and was tempted to go throw up his food. He lied down and tried to force the feeling away. It was almost spring break, he was supposed to have fun next week. He didn't need it ruined.

By Friday morning, he felt okay. He wasn't completely better but he was pretty sure he would be by the next day. He hugged his parents and said bye to them. When Naraku came to pick him up, he got out of the car and did the same. The students had only two classes on their last day.

"Alright, guys," their English teacher said. "Turn in your essays on the front desk."

Sesshomaru's eyes widened. "What the fuck? What essay?" he asked.

Katie and Naraku turned to him.

"The explanatory essay that was assigned two weeks ago," the girl told him.

"I thought that was due after break!"

"She moved it up to today, remember?"

"Oh, fuck me…" He was barely hanging onto his B in that class as it was, now this would tank his grade. During the semester he let his grades slip a little and now he was completely regretting it.

"How'd you forget? We worked together on it last week," Naraku said.

"I don't know. Damn it. She won't let me turn it in late after all the time we had."

"Are you going to talk to her?"

"No, forget it. I'll just make it up with the test."

At the end of the period, the teacher called Sesshomaru up to her desk.

"Sesshomaru, I didn't see your essay in the pile," she said.

"I forgot it was due today…"

"This is going to send you down to a C."

"I know."

"Do you have any of it done?"

"I have an outline I worked on with Naraku. That's it."

"Well…you're a good student and very smart. I don't want to see your grade drop, you don't deserve it. After eleven, I'll be here until 1:20 when my next class starts. You can come here and try to finish it."

"Oh, really? Here at eleven?"

"Yeah. I need it by 1:20 though."

"Alright. Thank you."

"That's cool of her," the black-haired boy said when Sesshomaru explained that he was staying late a couple of hours.

"Yeah, I know."

"Do you wanna just call me when you're done then?"

"If you don't mind."

"Alright then."

The two kissed at eleven then parted. Sesshomaru went to his English class while Naraku left. His teacher greeted him before he sat at a desk, taking out his outline and his laptop. He worked vigorously, two hours was not a lot of time for him to write an entire essay. By the time he had it printed out, students from the next class were already walking in.

"Alright, thanks, Sesshomaru," she said. "I'm not going to count it late this time."

"Thanks," he said and smiled.

"Have a good break."

"You too."

When he walked out, the sky was covered in gray clouds. It just recently rained since the ground was wet. It had still been somewhat blue that morning, but now clouds covered everything. Sesshomaru didn't mind though, he wasn't too fond of beaming sunlight.

He walked off campus and down the street. He wanted to get some coffee and afterwards, he'd call his boyfriend. He went along the sidewalk that was elevated on a small hill with a short white fence and trees that hung over it providing lots of shade. He turned the corner and saw a few people coming in the opposite direction. It wasn't until they were close up that he froze.

_Koga?_

He hadn't seen that fucker for almost a year. He had let himself forget about him. It was too late to turn around now, they had already spotted him and were coming straight at him.

"Now look what we have here," the tan teen sneered. "The little bitch that almost got me expelled. I've missed you, Sesshy. My other toys just aren't as fun, they never cry or beg as much as you did."

"Fuck off," Sesshomaru growled. "You're so fucking bad ass ganging up on people."

"Shut up, you pussy. And I _was_ gonna go easy on you."

Koga started towards him, his friends followed. Sesshomaru held his ground and kept a glare on his face but inwardly he was panicking. He thought he had escaped this. While he gained some strength since junior year, there was no way he could fight all of these guys off.

"Looks like you're the pussy, not me," Sesshomaru spat. "You can't even fight me on your own, you need your friends to help."

"Be quiet. I've proved it plenty over the years that I can take your ass down alone. Now just accept your punishment, freak."

Sesshomaru knew if he stayed, he'd get his ass kicked. It wasn't a matter of being weak, it was being smart. With little thought behind it, he turned around and ran. He didn't get very far though before Koga caught him. The black-haired bully tackled him and they both fell into a puddle. Koga pinned his legs down with his own then grabbed the back of his head.

"Hm, wonder if a person can drown in a puddle?" he laughed. He pushed the boy's head down for a few seconds, knowing he couldn't breathe. He pulled him back up though before doing it again. It would be bad if Sesshomaru actually passed out.

Koga flipped the boy around then punched him in the stomach. He repeatedly hit him until Sesshomaru was wheezing. Then Koga's friends joined in and hit him everywhere that could be covered up with clothing. When they were finished, they tossed Sesshomaru off the sidewalk then ran away. It was a miracle no one had stopped them yet, they were smart enough to get away from the scene now that they were done with the beating.

Sesshomaru groaned as he tried to sit up. It was a difficult task but he managed. He was wet, dirty, and hurt. His hand went to his pocket to find his phone and he hoped it hadn't been broken. He called his boyfriend.

"Hey, Sessh. You ready?" Naraku asked.

"Yeah, pick me up at the bus stop down the street from school though," Sesshomaru said quietly.

"Why are you down there?"

"I was gonna walk down but decided not to. Oh, and…bring extra clothes. At least a sweatshirt or something." He was freezing now with the chill and being wet.

"What happened?"

"Just hurry up. I'll tell you in the car."

"I'll be there soon."

They hung up and Sesshomaru dragged himself to stand. The bus stop he had mentioned wasn't too far away, he made it in a few minutes. He slumped onto the bench and stared at the street. It started sprinkling then gave way to rain. Luckily, the bench he was on had a cover over it. By the time Naraku got there, he was shivering. The bigger teen ran to him and put him in the car. The heater was running and Naraku grabbed the clothes he brought. He started yanking Sesshomaru's wet jacket and shirt off, wondering what the fuck had happened. He took off his own shirt and put it on the smaller boy and zipped up his own jacket. Then he pulled the sweatshirt over Sesshomaru's trembling body.

"What the fuck happened?" Naraku asked frantically.

"Koga…" Sesshomaru whispered.

Naraku's rage instantly kicked in. He wanted to go hunt for that fucker and run him over. Oh, that guy was going to pay…whether Sesshomaru protested or not. "I'm going to go find him."

"No. Just take me home. I'm cold and tired…I just want to go to sleep. We can find him another time…"

He sighed. "Alright. You can take a hot bath then I'll put you to bed, okay? When my parents get home, I'll just tell them you weren't feeling well or something."

"Okay."

They drove home with Naraku's eyes darting over to the boy every few minutes. Once they got there, he helped him inside. Since no one else was there yet, Naraku stripped him of his wet pants at the front door. Upstairs, he ran a bath for him then watched as Sesshomaru got in the tub. The tired teen lied quietly for a few minutes before his boyfriend washed his hair. Naraku already had fresh pajama pants and boxers along with a new shirt waiting after he dried off. He put them on and immediately crawled into bed. With blankets covering him, he looked at Naraku.

"Are you getting in?" Sesshomaru asked.

"Mhm," Naraku answered. He took off his own clothes since he had been out in the rain with them then joined the cold boy.

Once the raven-haired teen was next to him, Sesshomaru closed his eyes. He was humiliated and in pain. He didn't feel well again and just forced himself to sleep. It wasn't very difficult.

…

Sesshomaru groaned as he awoke. He sat up but regretted it. His body ached and felt weak, and a wave of nausea attacked him as he stood. Naraku was immediately at his side. The younger male's eyes closed as he breathed slowly. The almost overwhelming urge to vomit went away although the pain in his stomach stayed. He walked back to bed with the help of Naraku, noticing how shaky his limbs felt.

"What's wrong?" the bigger teen asked.

"Stomach hurts mostly," Sesshomaru answered.

"I'll get you something for it…"

"Thanks."

When Naraku came back he handed the boy a tiny plastic cup filled with red liquid. "I found that since you don't like swallowing pills."

Sesshomaru downed it like a shot then collapsed back onto the pillow.

"You want anything else?"

"No thanks."

"I'm gonna go downstairs. My mom and Kagura just got home. Call if you need anything."

"Alright. I'm gonna try to sleep some more."

Sesshomaru was out for the rest of the night. Naraku told his parents that the boy just wasn't feeling well, which wasn't exactly a lie. He thought the teen would be up by the next day so he didn't worry too much about the sickness. It was probably from the stress of getting beat up.

…

When Naraku woke around ten the next morning, Sesshomaru was still asleep. It worried him so he gently shook the boy until his eyes blinked open.

"Uh, Sessh. What's going on with this sickness? Are you okay?"

"I've been feeling a little off for a couple days now…I didn't say anything because I thought it'd go away but it's been getting worse since yesterday. Can you give me more of that medicine?"

"Sure, I'll be right back." He fetched the cherry flavored liquid and gave him some. "Are you hungry or anything? You haven't eaten since yesterday morning."

"Oh god, no. I can't force any food down right now. Maybe some water would help though…Naraku, I feel worse from last night…"

"I'll be right back. I'm sure you'll be better soon."

"Okay. Thanks."

The older teen walked downstairs and grabbed a water bottle from the fridge. Just as he was about to sneak back upstairs undetected, his mom found him.

"Hey, Naraku," she said, stopping him.

"Yeah?" the male said.

"Is Sesshomaru still upstairs?"

"Yeah."

"Still sleeping?"

"No, he woke up."

"Hm…how's he feeling?"

"Fine. He's just thirsty."

Sora didn't believe her son though. "That water for him I take it?"

"Yeah."

"Give it to me. I'll bring it to him, I want to check on him."

"Unnecessary. He's fine."

"Yes, you told me but I just want to make sure he's okay."

Naraku reluctantly handed the water over to her and followed her up the stairs. As they neared the bedroom, they could hear Sesshomaru having a coughing fit. He was finished by the time Sora opened the door. When he looked over and saw the woman, his eyes widened.

"Hey, Sessh," she said as she sat on the bed. "How you feeling?"

"Fine," he answered. He tried sitting up to pretend that he was feeling better but it hurt.

"Just lay back down. Here's your water."

He took a few sips before listening. He searched for his boyfriend and saw him standing in the doorway. The raven-haired male mouthed the word 'sorry' to him.

"Now how are you really feeling?"

"I'll be fine…it's okay."

She felt the boy's forehead, he was burning up. "Have you had any sort of medicine?" She looked up and saw the red bottle on the dresser. "Oh, I guess you have."

"Yeah, last night and this morning."

"Naraku, why don't you go downstairs? It'd be no good for you to get sick too."

"But-"

"Go, Naraku."

The teen left grumbling.

"Is it your head? Or your stomach? Tell me."

The boy finally gave in. "My stomach hurts a lot. But I feel weak too and my head hurts."

"And when's the last time you ate?"

"Yesterday morning."

"Your stomach probably hurts more from going so long without. You don't want anything?"

"No."

"Okay…but I want you to have something light in a few hours. Do you feel nauseous at all?"

"When I first woke up. It's not too bad right now."

"Alright. I'll leave you alone for now then and be back in a while."

"Okay, thanks."

For the rest of the day, Sesshomaru faded in and out of consciousness. It worried the others. Sora asked Naraku if he knew where the sickness came from but he lied and said he didn't know. He figured the beating somehow made it worse but there was no way he was going to tell that to his mother.

Kagura and Byakuya left that afternoon. A friend of theirs had invited them to go up north for the week on a family trip. They'd be back on Friday. Naraku's other two siblings, Kanna and Hakudoshi, were still around. That night when Naraku headed off to bed, he tried going to his room. Sora stopped him though. Sesshomaru was really sick and she didn't want her oldest son to contract it. She told him to go in there quickly only to get his belongings then move into Byakuya's room temporarily. He protested but didn't really have any choice. Sesshomaru was at least awake when he went in.

"My mom's kicking me out of here," Naraku complained.

"Because I'm sick?" Sesshomaru asked.

"Yeah. I think it's dumb but whatever." He kissed the boy's forehead and hugged him before grabbing his things. "How are you feeling?"

"Same."

"Need anything?"

He shook his head.

"Okay. Night, Sessh."

"Good night."

…

Sora checked on Sesshomaru the next day. He wasn't improving. The boy couldn't really get out of bed and if he did, it was only for a minute or two. Sora had forced him to nibble on things and he managed to keep the food down. It was difficult for him to sleep more than twenty minutes though. He mostly just lied there weakly, wishing he were better or dead. Around midnight, he was finally able to drift off for about an hour.

He woke up in terrible pain. He felt like he was about to vomit and probably would if he tried to get up. It was silent in the house so he tried calling out for someone. No one heard his quiet cries though. He thought about calling on his phone but decided against it. Taking a deep breath, he was going to try to hurry into the bathroom. He sat up but that was as far as he got.

The boy sat up only to lean over the bed and start to throw up. A few moments later he heard footsteps running towards the room and then the door opened. Sora came in first and sat behind him, holding his hair back. Naraku was up too and stood near the door.

Tears leaked out of his eyes as his stomach's contents fell to the floor. He was so embarrassed and angry with himself. He felt guilty too, now Sora or Takeo was going to have to clean up his mess. When he was finished, Sora helped him to stand away from the puddle of vomit. Naraku grabbed him some new pajama pants and socks. Sora grabbed a towel while Naraku helped him change, then she wiped his mouth off.

"I'm sorry," the boy cried, more tears falling. "I-I didn't mean to. I t-tried to make it to the bathroom."

Sora hugged him and let him hide his face in her neck while he cried. She patted his back lightly and told him it was okay. Takeo came into the room, cleaning supplies in hand. He had heard the commotion and knew he had to clean up vomit. He was kind of annoyed but once he saw Sesshomaru bawling, it disappeared.

Sora and Naraku helped the sick teenager downstairs onto the couch. Naraku wrapped him in a blanket since he was freezing. Sesshomaru closed his eyes while mother and son talked to each other. A while later, Takeo came downstairs.

"Naraku," the oldest man said. "I think it'd be best if Sesshomaru went to Byakuya's room tonight. I don't want to put him back in your room right now because it smells like chemicals. You mind sleeping down here?"

"No," he sighed. "It's fine." He went upstairs to grab his pillow and a blanket for the couch.

The man turned to Sesshomaru. "You think you can make it up the stairs?"

"I can try," he mumbled quietly. He let the blanket fall from him then tried to stand up. He walked a few shaky steps before needing to stop. His energy was almost non-existent, what should have been an easy task now felt like a five mile run.

"It's okay," Takeo told him. "I'll carry you up there." He quickly picked the boy up and started for Byakuya's room.

Sesshomaru tiredly let his head fall on the man's shoulder. "I'm sorry…" he whispered.

"Don't worry about it. You didn't ask to be sick." He was surprised that he could feel Sesshomaru's body trembling.

As they reached the hallway, Sesshomaru stopped Takeo. "I think I'm gonna throw up again…"

The man got him to the bathroom just in time. When Sesshomaru was finished, he took him to the bedroom and put him in bed. He kept the door open and told Sesshomaru to just call out if he needed anything. The youth closed his eyes and a few minutes later, drifted off into a light sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

WARNING (this story will contain the following): homosexual relationships, sex scenes, major OOCness, AU (modern times), fluff, uke Sesshomaru, bullying, author is a complete sap…did I mention _major_ OOCness?

I see this fic wrapping up in a few more chapters. I never meant for it to be too long. Thank you to everyone who's reviewed. I don't think I really replied to everyone to say thanks. I appreciate all your comments though.

* * *

Chapter Nine

The next couple of days were Sesshomaru's worst. The pain had intensified and now he kept vomiting. Sora constantly checked on him because she was so worried about his sudden decline. Since his boyfriend was out of commission, Naraku had taken up on chores around the house simply to keep himself busy.

The woman climbed up the stairs and saw Sesshomaru weakly walking back to the bedroom. She was sure he had just thrown up. She followed him into Naraku's room and he collapsed onto the bed. The male just curled up and pulled the blankets over himself. Sora sat next to him.

"Sessh, I'm really worried about how much worse this has gotten," she told him.

Even though his eyes were closed, he nodded to let her know he was listening.

"I want to take you to the doctor."

"No…" he mumbled. "I'll be fine."

"If I don't think you're getting better soon then we're going."

"Mm, fine." He didn't want to go but there was no point in arguing. She would win.

"How do you feel?"

"Same as when I woke up. I thought I'd get a little better…"

"Do you need anything?"

"Can you hand me my water?"

She gave him the bottle off the nightstand. He sat up a little to sip some.

"Thank you for doing this…for taking care of me…" he whispered.

The kind woman stroked his hair and smiled. "You don't have to thank me. I do this for all my kids."

Sesshomaru couldn't help the smile that spread on his face. After making sure the boy was okay, she left again. The teen lied down thinking about the words she had said.

Later that night, Naraku and Sesshomaru were texting each other. Sora still banned her son from going around his boyfriend. When she wasn't paying attention though, he snuck in to see him.

'We were supposed to hang out with Katie, Rei, and the others tomorrow,' Sesshomaru typed.

'Yeah, I know,' Naraku replied. 'Katie texted me asking about it.'

'Does she know I'm sick?'

'Yeah, I told her.'

'Are you still going?'

'Well…I haven't answered her back yet.'

'You should go. It'll probably be fun. Don't worry about me, there's no point in us both being here.'

'You sure you don't mind?'

'No, why would I?'

'I don't know…'

'Just go and have fun. Okay?'

'Fine. We'll all hang out again once you're better.'

…

Naraku left in the afternoon the next day. Sesshomaru was asleep. Hakudoshi and Kanna were around, currently the two kids were playing tag. The white-haired girl's room was located down the hall and they were running in that hallway. They were being really loud, not remembering about the sick teen in their brother's room. Hakudoshi tripped and banged against the door, waking Sesshomaru up.

The boy awoke extremely irritated. He sat up and went over to the door. Peeking outside, he glared at them. The younger ones apologized and ran off, afraid to get him angrier. Sesshomaru tested his strength and found that he could walk without wanting to collapse. He decided to take a bath while he was feeling a little better.

After running the tub, he sunk into the hot water and relaxed. It felt good, but he knew he couldn't stay in there too long. His energy would probably drain soon so he had to hurry and finish. He washed himself then got out. While drying himself off, he felt weak so he sat on the floor for a few moments. Finding the will to stand, he put boxers on and wrapped the towel around himself. In Naraku's room, he simply fell onto the bed. He figured he should dress since he was only in underwear but he didn't want to. His eyes darted down to his body. It was still marred by some healing bruises. It didn't look nearly as bad as when he had first gotten beat, but it still looked bad.

Just as he was contemplating on whether or not to move, the door opened. His eyes widened and his hands fumbled to pull the blanket over himself. Sora had just come in and she would have left but she saw something that disturbed her. There were bruises all over Sesshomaru.

The boy had a blush covering his face and he desperately hoped that Sora didn't see anything. How could he come up with a decent lie to cover up what really happened?

Despite the embarrassing situation, the woman still walked over and sat on the bed. "Sesshomaru," she said quietly. "What happened?"

"I don't know what you mean," he lied.

"I saw them. You're all bruised. How did that happen?"

"It's nothing."

"You're banged up. That isn't nothing."

"Don't worry about it. They're healing."

"Who did this to you? Someone at school?"

"No."

"Sesshomaru."

"Just leave it alone…" His face felt hot and he could feel tears starting to burn at his eyes. He worried that Sora was about to find out everything.

"…It wasn't Naraku, was it?" That couldn't be possible…

"No! He'd never do that, we both know that!"

"Then who was it?"

"…I don't want to say."

"Why not?"

"I just don't."

"I'm telling your parents what I saw."

"No! Please…don't tell them…"

"If you don't tell me then I'll tell them about your bruises."

"…Don't tell them. If I tell you then don't say anything…"

"I won't."

"It…it was…some guy from my old school. I saw him on Friday and he beat me up."

"What? Why?"

"We hate each other. He and his friends ganged up on me. Naraku wasn't around so it was just me."

"There's more to this than you're saying."

"No…I already told you how it happened. That's all you asked."

"Your parents can probably find out more then."

"He did it for revenge! At the end of junior year, he almost got expelled because of me." He stopped but Sora gave him a look that demanded he continue. "We got in a fight, a teacher saw. The principal let me off because I never get in trouble. The other guy is always bad though so he almost got expelled. Before Friday, I hadn't seen him since then." He sat up and the tears in his eyes began to fall. "Please, Sora! Don't tell my parents. I doubt I'll see that guy again so it'll just make them worry for no reason. Please…don't…"

Sora stared at the bruises that were exposed when he sat up. She embraced him though once she saw that he was crying. "Shh, shh…I won't say anything about this." She waited until most of his tears were gone to announce the rest of what she wanted to say. "I want you to tell them instead."

Sesshomaru's head immediately darted up. "No! You lied to me just to get me to tell you!" His bottom lip quivered as he stared disbelievingly at the woman.

"No, I didn't. I said I wouldn't tell them and instead I'm asking you to."

"Why?"

"They should know, Sesshomaru. Someone beat you up. That shouldn't happen."

"Sora…"

"You don't have to do it as soon as they come back, but do it soon."

The boy looked absolutely defeated. "Okay…" he mumbled before lying down and pulling the blanket over his body. He turned on his side away from Naraku's mother.

She didn't like doing that to him but Kimi and Touga really should know. If one of her kids had gotten beat up and they knew, she would want them to tell her."

Sora sent Takeo to check on Sesshomaru after that. She thought the boy would be angry with her and wouldn't want to see her. She was wrong though. Around ten that night, Takeo said that Sesshomaru wanted to see her. She went upstairs and saw Sesshomaru on his phone. He had just texted Naraku about what happened while he was gone.

"Hey, Sessh," she said as she came in.

"Hey," he replied.

"I thought you'd be mad at me."

"Heh, no…I'd be a huge jerk if I was. Especially with everything you've been doing for me."

"You understand why I'm telling you to do this, right?"

"Yeah…I still don't like it though."

"Those two times you told me about, were they the only times that boy hurt you?"

"Yeah."

"Why does he hate you?"

"I'm not sure…part of the reason might be because I'm gay, but I don't know. He's always hated me, ever since I moved out here."

The two talked for a little while longer before Sora left. A few minutes later, his door opened again. But this time it was his boyfriend.

"Hey, Sessh," the teen said quietly. He snuck in to spend the night with the other male.

"Hey, Naraku." Sesshomaru pulled back the blankets so his boyfriend could crawl in.

The bigger male wrapped his arms around Sesshomaru and brought the white head to his chest. Sesshomaru snuggled warmly into him. They both missed having physical contact.

"So Mom found out about Koga, huh…?" Naraku asked.

"Yeah…" Sesshomaru answered. "Now she wants me to tell my parents."

"What? No, that'll just be bad for you."

"I know. But if I don't, I'm sure she'll just tell them herself."

"That fucking sucks. Just lie and say you did tell them."

"I want to. But what if your mom finds out that I lied to her? I'd feel bad."

"Tch. You're such a softy."

"Oh, shut up. You'd do the same thing."

"Mm, probably." He placed kisses all over Sesshomaru's face and neck before attacking his lips.

Sesshomaru eagerly returned it until they heard footsteps out in the hall. They stopped to listen. Whoever the person was stopped outside Byakuya's door and the couple thought they were caught. No one opened the door though and instead turned around. It sounded like they went back to one of the younger children's bedrooms.

"Well, that was weird," Naraku stated. He then kissed the boy again.

…

It was Friday now. Spring break was almost over and Sesshomaru's parents were coming home tonight. Sesshomaru was feeling better than he had the last few days but he was still sick. Kimi and Touga knew that he was ill but the boy and Sora agreed that it would be best not to tell them how serious it was. That would have just made them worry too much. Since Sesshomaru hadn't been eating much over the last week, he had dropped weight.

The ill teen slept through most of the day. A couple hours before his parents came, he got up to shower and change clothes. For the rest of the time he sat downstairs with Naraku's family. Touga and Kimi came in the evening. Sesshomaru stood up with his bags ready.

Kimi looked surprised when she saw him. "Oh my god. You're so skinny," she said as she hugged him. The boy had already been thin to begin with, if anything he had needed to gain a little weight. "My baby looks anorexic now."

"Thanks, nice to see you too," Sesshomaru grumbled.

She pulled back. "Sorry. I'm just surprised."

Everyone talked for a few minutes then Sesshomaru, Kimi, and Touga thanked Naraku's family before leaving.

"Sessh, how are you feeling?" Touga asked.

"Better. I'm still tired though," he answered.

"You want something to eat when we get home?"

"No…"

"I really think you should eat something," Kimi said.

"No. I haven't thrown up since yesterday morning. I'm not going to ruin it by forcing myself to eat."

The woman sighed. Her son really was too skinny.

Sesshomaru went to bed as soon as they got home. Being up for this long had gotten to him. He and his parents talked about their trip the next day. The golden-eyed male was really disappointed with how the week turned out. It had started awful and only stayed bad. School was already on Monday and his first day completely better would be spent there.

Naraku and Sesshomaru's first class of the day was English. When they walked in, almost all of the students asked what happened to Sesshomaru. He explained to them all that he had been sick all of break and that was why he had lost weight. Some people weren't convinced though and thought he had become anorexic. Sesshomaru was annoyed but tried to ignore everyone else as best he could.

The raven-haired teen's birthday was fast approaching. He was turning eighteen and had decided he wanted a party to celebrate. Sesshomaru, Katie, and Rei were the ones planning it. Naraku offered to help but they told him they would do it. It would be at Rei's house since his parents wouldn't be home that weekend. Naraku's birthday was on Thursday but the party would be on Saturday since the adults left that morning.

Sesshomaru thought of what he could get his boyfriend. He had been saving up his money for a while now. Naraku had mentioned wanting a bike. He had outgrown the last one he owned and had never bothered getting new one.

When he and Katie went shopping, he checked the prices and found one he could afford. He bought it then he and the girl put it in her truck. She'd hold on to it for him until his birthday arrived. That wasn't enough for Sesshomaru though. He wanted to give him more. He had something in mind and had actually been thinking about it for a long time. Concluding that he was ready to do it, he decided that he would give it to Naraku.

…

Thursday approached and Naraku hung out with his boyfriend all day. After school, they left the area to go downtown where there were more things to do. They came back that night and went to Sesshomaru's house. Even though there was school tomorrow, Sesshomaru's parents let the other male spend the night. Sesshomaru called Katie once they were there and she swung by. The white-haired boy presented his gift to his boyfriend. Naraku liked it and wanted to test it out right there.

"Get on the handlebars," Naraku said.

"What?" Sesshomaru asked. "I'll fall."

"Aw, come on. I won't let you fall."

"Fine…but only because it's your birthday."

Naraku helped Sesshomaru hop on and after moving a few wobbly feet they were going smoothly. The white-haired male worried that he was going to fall off, but Naraku kept his word. After a while they put the bike away then went inside. When they were in Sesshomaru's bedroom, the shorter one wrapped his arms around Naraku and kissed him.

Naraku immediately fell into the kiss and pushed Sesshomaru down onto the bed. They couldn't do much since Kimi and Touga were down the hall and that annoyed him. He wanted his boyfriend now. Not caring that they might get caught, Naraku moved his lips down to Sesshomaru's neck.

"Wait," Sesshomaru gasped out. "N-Naraku…"

"Hm?" the man hummed.

"I-I want to talk to you."

With great reluctance, the wine-eyed male pulled away. "About what?"

"The rest of your present."

He quirked an eyebrow at that but waited for Sesshomaru to continue.

"I've been thinking for a long time about this. I want to take things further. So that's why I…I want to give you my virginity."

"Sesshomaru…" Naraku had wanted to do this too but was worried about pushing his boyfriend too far. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I've thought a lot about it. You want to, right?"

"Yes, I do."

"I wish we could tonight but…my parents. Tomorrow?"

"Yeah, tomorrow."

Both males went to bed that night thinking about how the next day would go.

…

School passed by slowly on Friday. Naraku and Sesshomaru couldn't hang out until the evening, the raven-haired male having to go somewhere with his brother. Katie called the other boy up in the afternoon though and asked if he wanted to come over. He did and was there after an hour. They were talking about the party taking place on Saturday and Sesshomaru decided to bring up the other thing he was giving Naraku.

"There were two parts to Naraku's gift," he told her.

"Oh, really? What was the other part?" she asked.

"I…we're gonna have sex for the first time." He didn't know what reaction to expect from her, but he was surprised when she suddenly beamed.

"Aw, will it be your first time?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I'm a little nervous but that's normal, right?"

"Mhm. I know I was. Rei told me later that he had been too. I'm sure Naraku will be gentle on you though. It'll hurt at first, but you'll get used to it. So…when are you guys doing it?"

"Tonight."

"Hehe, looks like somebody will be having a good time."

He smirked at her before agreeing.

…

The couple met at Sesshomaru's house that night. No one else was home so it would be perfect for their first time together.

"Are you scared?" Naraku asked between kisses.

"I'm nervous," Sesshomaru told him. He lifted his arms as the other man tugged his shirt off.

"I won't be rough."

"I know."

Naraku unbuttoned his own shirt then pushed Sesshomaru back onto the bed. He climbed on top of him, sucking his neck then moving down to his chest. As his lips wrapped around a nipple, one of Sesshomaru's hands fisted Naraku's hair while the other gripped the sheet. He panted as his boyfriend pleasured him.

Naraku's hands were busy working at Sesshomaru's pants. He managed to unzip them then pulled away so he could take them completely off. He kissed Sesshomaru's lips before standing.

The white-haired boy watched as Naraku stripped out of his pants and walked over to where his backpack lay on the floor. He pulled a tube of some sort out then came back to the bed. As he squirted the substance onto his hand, Sesshomaru realized it was lube. He splayed his legs as Naraku pushed his fingers into him. The younger male was already used to this feeling, the older teen had done it many times since first trying.

Once he was slicked up and stretched, Naraku rubbed lube on his cock. He wanted the other to feel as little discomfort as possible. He positioned himself above Sesshomaru and looked down at him.

"Ready?" Naraku asked.

"Yeah," Sesshomaru told him.

Crimson eyes watched Sesshomaru's face as he was slowly penetrated. He looked uncomfortable so once Naraku was fully buried, all movement stopped.

"You okay?"

"Mhm. I'll be fine in a minute."

As soon as the pain and burn subsided somewhat, Sesshomaru let him know that he was ready. Naraku eagerly began thrusting. He went slowly at first for both of them. Sesshomaru could get used to the feeling and Naraku could enjoy those slick warm walls clamped around his cock. The white-haired male closed his eyes, there was some discomfort but it still felt strangely good.

"Mm, faster…" he moaned.

Naraku complied and put more power behind his thrusts. He wanted to hear Sesshomaru scream so he searched for the spot his fingers had struck so many times before. When his boyfriend cried out loudly, he knew he had found it.

Sesshomaru wrapped his arms around Naraku's neck as his prostate was repeatedly hit. This felt better than anything they had ever done before. He moved his hips in time with his boyfriend, pleasure overwhelming him and overruling the pain. He brought Naraku's face to his and they kissed. The black-haired male explored his mouth using his tongue while his dick pushed in and out of his ass. He then used one of his hands to wrap around Sesshomaru's cock. He pumped the hard erection furiously. The teen broke the kiss to let a moan fall from his lips.

He was close. Sesshomaru was quickly approaching the edge. Naraku's mouth moved to suck on his neck, trying to pleasure him as much as possible. After a particularly hard ram into his sweet spot, Sesshomaru couldn't take it anymore. He yelled out the other's name as his seed released between them. A few jerky thrusts later, Naraku came too. The raven-haired male rolled off him so he wouldn't collapse all his weight on Sesshomaru.

The snow-haired teen lied still for a couple minutes trying to recover. He knew he was going to be sore the next day but that didn't matter. Not at that moment anyways. For now he was just content.


	10. Chapter 10

This was supposed to be the last chapter but...the next one will be instead. Thanks for your continued reading.

* * *

Chapter Eleven

Sesshomaru felt happy when he woke up the next morning. He was extremely sore as well, but he didnt' regret what happened the prior night. He glanced over to find Naraku still asleep. The younger teen smiled and stretched. Although he was still inexperienced and nervous, he rolled over to wake his boyfriend up in a more pleasant way.

A week later, Sesshomaru, Katie, and Ah-Un were at Naraku's house. It was a Friday night so they were all sleeping over.

"Sesshy," the only girl whined. "Go get me a drink."

"Go get it yourself," he replied.

"We're in the middle of a level and your character already died."

He sighed but stood anyways. "Alright. What do you want?"

"Beer."

"No, really."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever's fine."

He left the bedroom to raid the fridge, hearing someone walk down the stairs as he did. The boy smiled when Naraku's mother greeted him.

"What are you guys up to?" she asked.

"They're playing video games. I died so now I'm the errand boy. Are you and Takeo doing anything tonight?"

"We're leaving to the movies in a bit."

The woman watched as he grabbed drinks and food for the others. "Sesshomaru...can you put that down for a minute?"

"Uh, sure." He looked at her uncertainly.

"Have you talked to your parents yet?"

"About what..." It came back to him. "Sora, there's no-"

"I guess that's a 'no' then." She sighed. "I'm not doing this to be 'mean' or anything like that. As a parent, I'd want to know something like this. It's a big deal."

"But it's old news," he argued.

"Doesn't matter. Do people still bully you?"

He shook his head. "This new school has been a lot better. Don't make me do this."

"I'm sorry but they need to know. I'm having lunch with your mom on Sunday...if you don't tell her by then, I will instead."

He tensed and stared at her for a few moments. The boy was going to say more but Ah-Un's voice came from the top of the stairs.

"Sessh, you get lost? Katie's getting impatient! he called.

The woman nodded at him. "I'll let you get back to them."

"Yeah," he mumbled. He grabbed the things off the counter and returned to his friends.

Sora frowned. She really hoped he told his parents before she had to. She didn't feel she should be the one to break that news to them. Her heart ached for the boy and at the pain he went through. She just hoped he was telling the truth about not being bullied anymore.

…

"My mom said that?" the black-haired teen asked.

The small group had eventually migrated to the living room to sleep. Only Naraku and Sesshomaru were awake and they had moved into a different room to talk.

The younger teen nodded. "So now I have to tell them tomorrow. This is ridiculous. It's not like it's going to change anything."

"Maybe she just wants to make sure it isn't happening anymore."

"Whatever. If it was, at least I have friends now who'll defend me. My parents are going to ask about that. I've never brought people around the house until recently. I can't explain how I've lied to them for two years."

"You don't have to reveal everything. Say it only started for a few months until we left."

"I guess...I'll have to tell them about Koga too though. That fucker's the reason Sora even found out."

"They'll go after him. Your parents will probably get him expelled."

He sighed. "Good. Not like I could stop them anyways."

Naraku frowned. It was obvious how stressed his boyfriend truly was. He wished it wasn't his mom making Sesshomaru do this. But he also understood her, though he wouldn't say it aloud.

"Just tell them in the morning and get it over with. You can come over after to get out of the house."

He ran a hand through his thick white locks. "I'll call you." He glanced back towards the other room.

"Tired?"

"Yeah..." They stood and went over to their spot on the floor. Simply put, tomorrow was going to suck.

Sesshomaru was the first to leave in the morning. Naraku gave him a few words of encouragement and a kiss before the boy's father picked him up.

"How was it?" Touga asked once his son was in the car.

"I had fun with them. You and Mom do anything?"

"Nah, just stayed in. We're old. You okay?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You seem kind of down. Something happen at Naraku's?

"No...uh, Mom's home, yeah?"

"Mhm."

His heart hammered. "I need to talk to you two then."

The man immediately grew very worried. "What-"

"Don't panic. It's nothing. Sora's just making me do this."

The father didn't like that explanation whatsoever. The five minute drive turned into a lifetime.

The boy barely had time to put his bag away in his room before Kimi was calling him back downstairs. Both adults were panicked but that was unsurprising.

"What happened?" the woman asked.

"Nothing. Lately, at least," he answered as he sat down. "Sora's making more out of this than it was." But as many times as he said that, he knew this would be a huge deal to his parents.

"It must be important if she wants you to tell us."

He suddenly sighed frustratedly, seeming all the teenager he still was.

"It's okay, Sessh. You know you can tell us anything," Touga urged gently.

He eyed them before finally admitting what he'd been hiding since they moved to California. "When I was sick during spring break...Sora accidentally walked in when I didn't have a shirt on and I...I was covered in bruises. I got beat up the day you left by a guy from my old school. It was the first time I saw him in almost a year and he had me outnumbered."

Kimi was speechless and Touga could barely find words himself. "Getting beat up is not 'nothing.' Who is this boy? W-why would he do that?"

"We used to have a couple classes together. We've always hated each other. We got in a fight near the end of junior year and he was suspended. Guess he was still mad about it."

"Was this the only time?"

Sesshomaru hesitated, shame filling him. "...No."

"How often does this happen?"

"It doesn't anymore."

"And when it did?"

"A lot of people didn't like me. Everything just—it all escalated so quickly and before I knew it, I was a complete outcast." His voice was shaking and he knew it but he couldn't stop now. "Koga's so popular and he has so many friends, it was easy to rally people against me. It stopped for the most part when I met Naraku."

The two adults were horrified. How could their son suffer so much and they be so oblivious to it? 'Awful' didn't even begin to describe how they felt. They failed Sesshomaru.

"Why didn't you tell us? We would've done anything to fix it."

His voice dropped to to a pained whisper. "I didn't want you to feel guilty for leaving Boston. You guys seemed happy so I stayed quiet." Tears came from his eyes now and he desperately wished they weren't there.

That admission made them feel even worse. "You've been getting bullied since we moved here?"

He nodded, unable to look either of them in the eye.

"What's Koga's last name?" Kimi asked.

The boy paused a moment before telling her. "Wolfe."

"Why didn't the school ever contact us?"

"They never noticed. The one time they did, it was a minor scuff and I wasn't in trouble so they didn't phone you."

"Is there anything else we should know?"

He shook his head. A heavy silence quickly took over. "I think I'm going to go to my room..."

They let him leave. He knew it wasn't over though. They would question him again once all this information truly sunk in. Sesshomaru didn't want to be around for that though. He called his boyfriend to pick him up.

"Hey, Sessh. You tell them?" the older male asked.

"Yeah, just finished..."

"What happened?"

The younger teen explained and how he expected another talk soon. He ended by asking his boyfriend to come get him.

"I, uh, can't," he mumbled feebly.

"What? Why not?"

"I just got grounded before you called. I started arguing with my mom about all this after Katie and Ah-Un left. You were so stressed out and I got mad at her for forcing you to tell your parents."

"You shouldn't have done that..."

"Yeah, well..." He sighed. "I'm sorry. Call Katie instead. She and Rei will get you."

"Alright."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just don't want to tell my parents anything else. Now they're worried for nothing."

"You think they'll try to keep you from leaving?"

"They better not. There's no reason for me to stay here all day."

"I'm really sorry, Sessh. I said I'd get you from there."

"Don't worry about it. I doubt Katie will mind. I'm going to call her before my parents ask more questions."

"Okay, talk to you later."

"Love you. Bye."

He hung up and quickly rang the girl. She said she'd swing by in a half hour after she met up with Rei. Sesshomaru took a fast shower and dressed. By the time he was finished, his friends shot a text saying they'd be there in five minutes. He walked downstairs to find Kimi and Touga quietly talking.

"I'm going out with Katie and Rei."

"Where at?" the mother asked.

"Not sure. I don't know what time I'll be back."

"...Alright. Text me later."

He turned to leave but she stopped him.

"Wait a second. Sesshomaru, we're sorry. We should've paid better attention and been more involved. It's our fault this happened. You never should've had to go through that, especially alone. Just promise us that if it ever happens again, you'll come to us."

He simply nodded. "I will. I swear it isn't happening anymore."

"We're going to your old school on Monday," Touga told him. "We want that Koga expelled."

"Okay." A car horn honked outside. "That's them."

"Bye."

The teen hurried out to where his friends were and got in the back seat. Even though he tried to cover it up, they still noticed something was off.

"Are you alright?" the girl asked.

"Yeah," he said. Those two didn't know about Koga. The thought of telling them was scary, even if they both were good friends.

Katie knew better but she let it go for the moment. "We have to get our friend Elena too."

"Oh, alright."

"So where's Naraku?" Rei, the driver, asked.

"Heh, he got grounded. Fought with his mom, don't know what about though."

"Ha, what a dumbass."

The other girl lived across town. Rei had to park and get out since Elena's parents wanted to meet the boy about to whisk their daughter off. Katie took that opportunity to question her quiet friend.

"So what really happened?"

"What do you mean?" Sesshomaru replied.

"Oh, come on. Naraku's suddenly 'grounded' and you're obviously upset. Did you two get into a fight? Is that the reason you left early this morning?"

"No, I was telling the truth about that."

She frowned and grew a bit more serious. "Hey, you can tell me if something's wrong. You're one of my best friends."

He clenched his hands nervously. He decided to tell her while it was only them in the vehicle. "Know how I was sick during break?"

"Yeah."

"Okay...on the last day of school I ran into one of my former bullies. He and his friends...they beat me up. When I was sick and staying at Naraku's, his mom accidentally saw the bruises and said if I didn't tell my parents then she would. That's what my parents and I were talking about before you came. And Naraku got in trouble because he was angry with her about forcing me to tell them."

"Oh my god...I had no idea. How'd your parents take it?"

"Badly, of course. They feel guilty even though I've made sure to hide it well over the years. They wondered why I never said anything before. But how could I have told them something like that?" He shrugged then saw Rei emerge from the house with a girl. "I didn't want to stay home after that."

"Yeah, I don't blame you. Who's the guy that did this?"

He sighed. "Koga Wolfe."

Her eyes widened. "I know that asshole. I've met him a few times. I hate him. Well, even more now."

Sesshomaru was going to say more but the other two entered the car.

"Sessh, Elena, meet each other," Rei told them.

The small group hung out for the next few hours. Sesshomaru was grateful for the distraction. In the evening, they took Elena back home then stopped by Sesshomaru's. He was spending the night at Katie's. Rei was too but he had to leave for a couple hours first. That left the other two alone to continue their discussion from earlier.

"You didn't tell Rei anything, did you?" the boy asked.

"Course not. I figured this was something you wanted to keep quiet."

"Yeah...I mean, he and I are friends but it's hard enough talking about this with just you and Naraku."

"Nah, I understand. I'm going to kill Koga the next time I see him."

"I told Naraku not to bother and the same goes for you. My parents are going down to the school on Monday. They won't stop until he's expelled."

"He deserves so much more than that."

"Yeah, but he's not worth it."

"How long has he been bullying you?"

"...Since I moved here. I think he hates me mostly because I'm gay. And an easy target." He looked down at the carpeted floor. "That's why I was so happy to switch schools. Nobody bothers me now, no one cares that I'm gay. Naraku was my first real friend here. He helped fight off the bullies and things just got so much better from there." He was surprised how good it felt to talk about this with someone.

Katie felt just as shocked, though for different reasons. She had known people used to treat the boy roughly, but to the extent that he didn't even have friends? The young woman couldn't imagine.

"Damn, Sesshomaru...I never knew it was that bad."

"Yeah, only Naraku and Ah-Un did. He and I met when Koga was harassing me. I don't talk about it for a reason. It's in the past now. Besides that one other time."

"I know Naraku's your bodyguard but please tell me if someone ever bothers you again."

"Fine, I will."

"Why would anyone ever want to make fun of you? You're fucking adorable."

He laughed. "Thanks. You and Naraku seem to be my biggest fans."

"I would hope so."

The conversation steered in a different direction after that and eventually landed on their plans after graduation. They were staying at the community college for one more year before transferring. Naraku and Sesshomaru were determined to attend the same university. Neither was sure they could go such long times without seeing each other.

The white-haired teen avoided his parents for the rest of the weekend. It wasn't hard. He came home while his mom was out with Sora. Touga was also nowhere to be found. He took advantage of the peace and lied quietly on his bed in thought.

He was stressed. That was something he'd practically grown used to, but this felt different. He felt guilty for making his parents so upset. That had been exactly what he tried to avoid. Now they would worry needlessly every time he left the house. He wanted to tell himself that this was Sora's fault but he knew that wasn't true at all. His parents would've done the same thing had it been one of her kids.

Eventually he heard a car pull up. He glanced out the window and saw his dad walking inside. Maybe if the teen stayed quiet, he wouldn't realise the boy was home. For a few minutes Touga stayed on the bottom floor but then he came upstairs and knocked on his son's door. Sesshomaru sat up and told him to come in.

"I didn't think you'd come home until tonight," the man said as he sat on the bed.

Sesshomaru shrugged. "I just got here." He waited for the inevitable. But one question burned at his mind. "Are you mad at me?"

Touga immediately frowned. "Gods no, Sessh. I wish you would've felt like you could come to us but I'm not mad. I keep thinking...how could I miss the signs? I can't imagine the pain you felt. I'm so, so sorry."

"It's not your fault. I made sure to hide what was happening."

"As a parent, it's my job to see through that. And I didn't. I failed you. How long has this been going on? Honestly, Sessh...was it a problem in Boston?"

He shook his head. "Only when we moved here. I don't...I don't know why. I guess partly because I'm gay but they just seemed to hate me from the start." Tears gathered in his eyes as he remembered. "Sorry your son is so pathetic."

Touga quickly gathered him in his arms. "You are _not_ pathetic. You're a beautiful person. What those kids did is fucking awful and reflects nothing about you. I'll tell you the same thing I said when you first came out. Don't ever be sorry for being yourself. I'm proud of you just the way you are."

The young man stared at the floor as his father hugged him, tears quietly creeping down the younger male's face. "Naraku's helped a lot. Things got better after we met."

"I know he's a great guy. I'm glad you met him."

Sesshomaru still felt bad but was relieved Touga wasn't angry with him. "Love you."

"Love you too, son."

Later in the evening, Sesshomaru noticed that his mother wasn't talking to him the same way his father had. But they were different personalities. He knew she just needed time to accept what happened to her son. He didn't blame either of his parents for what his peers did, but he also knew that he'd never be able to erase the guilt they felt.


End file.
